Tomb Raider and the Angel Of Death
by alvaro84
Summary: The sequel of a sequel, a new era cushioned by a new principle, the Law of Cycles. And a new girl, curious by nature, forced to fight, lost on a remote island, the land of her great discovery. But she has a lot to learn about her own abilities. Even the ancient wildlife of Yamatai has surprises for her, let alone her enemies and the powers that fight over her head.
1. Old Surprises

**1\. Old Surprises**

 _v0.901_

"Oh, shit! Don't make a sound, Lara!", she whispered to herself while she felt like shouting or at least swearing aloud. Sam's life depended on her being faster than the preparations the indiscriminately stolen gospels of the Solari commanded. Yet she was here, stalled, lurking behind a stone balustrade, waiting for a regiment of undead Samurai to pass.

They were the priestess queen Himiko's warriors who had pledged allegiance to her nearly two thousand years ago and that vow seemed to still bind them. They took no orders from the leader of the Solari, they must have been summoned by the queen of storms herself. They may have been preparing for the inauguration of the new queen or gathering for some other ceremony, it didn't matter. She knew better than getting in their way. They just kept coming in an endless procession, murmuring ancient Japanese texts. Each line was led by its officer and even one of those invincible Oni giants passed on the other side of the stone rail.

As the vast hall filled by the minute it became clear that she had no chance to sneak nor to cut through the army. She felt trapped in a snake pit and it just got worse. The soldiers kept gathering and grey odorless mist followed around their feet. Lara could only hope that she hadn't already inhaled a deadly dose of some unknown poison while she kept her head down behind the rail.

At last she reached the stairs. She could finally sneak her way up and breathe clean air. She filled her lungs and looked around the hall above the soldiers' heads. She found what she was looking for: a narrow ledge at the feet of the chanting warriors on the gallery. With a bit of luck it looked possible to climb to the other side holding on that ledge.

Hanging above her enemies' heads she had another look around. She hoped that they were absorbed in the ceremony enough to overlook the silently dangling interloper. It didn't take a second to regret her decision. The sight made her body jerk enough to relax her hold for a moment.

What she saw wasn't a disciplined formation of soldiers anymore but toga-clad ascetics with hands folded in prayer, all the same, an army of perfect clones. Their feet lost in the mist above the floor, their faces hidden behind blurry noise, each one being like a flaw in the Matrix. But she wasn't shocked by the sudden change. The familiarity of the sight was much more terrifying. Her instincts she learned to listen to told her that she had forgotten something crucial. Remembering could be the matter of life and death, but her mind was blank.

Se saw a pile of burning wood in the middle of the hall and next to it two toga-clad figures were undressing a third, smaller, more weary looking wraith. His head bobbed in two gruesomely separated halves, a torn toga hung in rags from his emaciated figure. The two other wraiths worked on removing these rags, one by one, gingerly like they were grooming a cruel queen who'd sentence them to death at the first wrong move. Rotting body emerged from the torn clothes. The more decaying flesh and naked bone they revealed the more the figure straightened. Hundreds of ghostly monks watched the dead abbot's transformation in awe.

Then four taller, similarly gaunt figures closed in and grabbed the Abbot by his four limbs. They started to pull while flames crawled from their shoulders to his body. They didn't stop emanating their impossible chant from the gaps at the center of their mutilated heads while they pulled stronger and stronger.

Lara knew that it was high time to leave. Then she would have time to think about collapsing the entire building on them. After these few days on the island she had believed that she couldn't fear anything anymore. Now she had to realize how wrong she had been. As she tried to pull herself up to the only window without monks her sweaty trembling fingers slipped. She found a new hold on the ledge right away but her body struck the wall starting a rain of pebbles on the crowd below. A wraith raised its gaze at her. The compression artifacts around its skull furled up revealing a pair of dark eye sockets with tiny spots of sharp, malicious light inside. It watched the girl for a moment then decided to give a piercing shriek. A whole army of wraiths jerked their heads trying to follow its gaze but that gaze had already ceased to point anywhere. An arrow of amethyst flames stabbed the wraith's head, its skull evaporated in a trail of smoke, and an empty toga collapsed on the floor. Lara saw the slim outlines of a girl, a long trail of dark hair disappearing behind a pillar on the other side of the hall. Grateful for the second gifted to her she pulled herself up on the ledge and ran out of the building, zigzagging in the rain of the wraiths' energy beams.

Her fate finally caught up to her as she ran right into another ravine like she had countless times in the past few days. She crashed into the rocks at the bottom then she drew her bow even before she could get on her feet. As she got a foothold she sent the arrow right into a wraith's head, then into another, again and again as she fled for her life, with searing in her arms and legs. Luckily she ran out of enemies faster than of arrows and strength. Then she collapsed in the cover of a rock and praised her luck and her secret benefactor for letting her get away from the dead abbot - or the Oni, as she had known. She couldn't even walk anymore and she was sure that no arrow nor bullet could kill that monster.

Her vision faded. She saw a little white animal approaching, hopping with long ears and bushy tail fluttering in its wake. Then her stomach sank as the ground jerked under her hands and knees. A ripple swept through her field of vision and she lost her remaining balance. The little white creature turned tail in a flash and scurried away. Lara hit the ground and stayed there, hardly having the strength to turn her face away from the dirt below.

She had fought many hopeless fights and received a lot of horrible wounds. Yet all of these injuries had faded into faint scars and she hadn't got the time to reflect on this oddity. It was like some divine grace, but she was running out of it. Her luck or God, should it be anything, turned its back on her. Her clothes soaked in blood, she felt the piercing of a bone's sharp end in her leg. She thought that she'd stay here for good but she didn't mind anymore. She had fought hard but the island proved stronger. Perhaps it was about time to learn to lose.

 _"We can't leave you here with so much darkness! It would attract the wraiths to you, Lara-chan."_

She wasn't sure that she had really heard the voice nor the next one. Something softly gurgled then another animal's head peeked out of the thicket. Purple eyes glittered at the girl from behind a dark and scaly lizard snout. The animal seemed to grin as it slightly opened its mouth and flicked out its tongue, as though mocking her. Then it stepped out of the bushes and cheekily pranced to the girl on its hind legs.

A mere twitch was all the move Lara could make. She watched amazed as the slightly oversized crow-like creature stopped next to her and started to theatrically preen its flight feathers, boasting of its peculiarity. Its whole black feathered body played in luminous purple sheen, only its wings sported a pair of white arcs and its long lizard tail had white and purple stripes in its iridescent feather fan. Lara knew quite a few similar animals but their age put the ancient kingdom of Yamatai in shame. She saw stern elderly zoo directors with her mind's eye, queueing for the right to give an arm and a leg for this creature.

The animal took another step and bent down balancing with its long tail to look into Lara's eyes. A mere blink was the only answer so it held out its neck, grabbed one of Lara's fingers with its little reptilian teeth and tried to free her hand from under her head. Then it grabbed the finger with its clawed hands and pulled with all its two-pound weight.

Then straightened and bristled up, chattering like a disappointed magpie. It tapped on the rock with its sickle claw, waiting for the girl to muster all her strength and toss her hand at its feet. Then it bent down again to carefully study the ring on her middle finger. Strangely she couldn't remember how she got this ring but she was sure that it was there during her every adventure.

If she had the strength she would have shaken her head. "This is not an animal."

No, it was more like another entry on the long list of the mysteries of this cursed island. She watched as the creature turned its back to her and touched the ring with the purple gem that hung from a gap between two of its tail feathers. The girl felt pulled out of her body through that very ring. She couldn't even lie on the ground without holding on to something but she didn't have the strength to hold on to anything. She closed her eyes and let her consciousness plummet into the void.

It was dawning when she woke up. The first thing she saw was the little black animal, walking up and down nervously. It was inspecting a hardly visible force field which looked but a pillar of rippling air to Lara - but it was an impenetrable wall to the creature. It carefully looked in every nook and cranny, felt around with its wings in search for the tiniest crack, completely fruitlessly. It even tried to clumsily hook its sickle claw into the force field with the same success. It took a good while for the creature to get tired of trying, its flight feathers were a mess by then. Then it stopped at the center of its high-tech prison and ran its right wing claws through the short feathers of its head and behind, like flipping back some imaginary hair. It promptly seemed to realize the futility of this act and sat on a bunch of grass fretfully, wrapped in its thoughts. Now it seemed even less animal-like, it it was possible at all.

Lara looked away just to notice the other small creature. She decided to keep watching lest she scare it away with a sudden move. While the black one looked like some prehistoric transition between a reptile and a bird this furry creature was definitely mammal-like. Its size, appearance and the way it sat suggested a short nosed white cat with an unusually long and bushy tail. It had only one striking oddity: a pair of extra limbs. Lara didn't know about any earthly creature with ear tentacles that ended in finger-like feelers. And this animal even wore jewelry, not unlike the other that it seemed to observe.

She should have found the sight strange but it hit her with the same uncanny familiarity she had felt hanging above the wraiths' heads.

 _"Interesting."_

A cute, nearly childish voice cheered inside her head.

 _"You seem to be aware of our presence here. You might be trying to remind us to an earlier failure by this appearance. Or, perhaps, it's a simple disguise. Indeed, our earlier contact with these creatures was a failure. We overestimated their level of development. But we know that you aren't one of them. You apparently use a host body the very way we do. We have learned a lot since then, we have means to judge your abilities. Your intelligence is obviously sufficient for proper communication. Actually you exceed the majority of this planet's dominant species in this respect."_

Lara tried to locate the source of this "voice" moving only her eyes. She suspected that these words weren't intended for her at all, that she was accidentally eavesdropping on some private matter.

 _"What are you? You know and make use of our soul gem technology. You appear at the exact time and place when and where we're about to observe the outcome of two important experiments at once. How can you benefit from the information you gain here? And why did you interfere with one of these experiments? Anyway, I'll make sure you won't influence the other."_

The confined creature defiantly cocked its head and ran its claws through its imaginary hair again. Apparently it was the recipient of the questions but it wouldn't cooperate. As an answer, the force field began to contract. The reptilian bird gave its opponent a spiteful look. Then it held out its right wing in a strange uncomfortable posture and put the tip in the air. The white animal glared back, puzzled, but Lara recognized the gesture and couldn't suppress her laughter. She knew that the wingtip the creature held out was actually its richly feathered middle finger.


	2. Reptile

**2\. Reptile**

 _v 0.901_

Homura knew that the house was empty, even before she opened her eyes. The usual little noises made by silent people were all gone. She couldn't even sense the presence of her family. Something wasn't right but she couldn't put a finger on it. She just felt some general absence.

She reached out and touched something in the bed. A sheet of paper rustled in her grasp. She sat up with a start, her eyes shot open and stared at the writing. It was a message from Madoka with the usual cute signature drawing. But everything else was wrong. Homura had taken the sin of betraying the Savior upon herself to spare Madoka from the threat that the supervisors of the magical girl system posed. She had become the thief who snatched the last bitter fruit of others' hard work and pain before a highly developed alien species could pick it. But Madoka contravened this new order and she apparently did for a good reason.

The writing said that she had to carry out her duty on a remote island and she begged the other girl not to follow her. Homura walked up and down while reading then she sighed and crumpled up the paper. She looked straight forward, sulking. Her hands uncreased the ball of paper and dropped it on the shelf under the mirror. They'd have to talk about it when Madoka returns.

Her next stop was the bathroom. She dressed up and walked down to the kitchen. The house was still deserted. Junko was at work and Madoka at a rescue mission in her stead, somewhere in the Dragon Triangle. Homura pictured her beloved watching a magical girl's suffering, feeling her pain and bitterness, unable to intervene until the very last moment. This thought washed away the last drop of resentment, leaving a tiny little thorn of guilt in her. She should have been the one to be there, no matter how right Madoka was.

Something splashed and fell down. Homura wiped her face and picked up the deformed tomato. "I deserved it.", she thought and tried not to think of her guilt but focus on the things she had to do. She looked around to find a clue how she could help at home. She found another piece of paper on the kitchen table. It explained why Tomohisa was absent and what task he had for his adopted daughter.

"So Takkun's new kindergartner is curious about the Angel of Death...", she summed up with a wicked little half-smile. Actually, the respectable preschool teacher would have liked to meet Kaname Tatsuya's family members but Homura was sure that the boy had already made a few strange sounding remarks about her and Madoka. "I can't disappoint her!"

She targeted the closest large mirror right away to harmonize her looks with Takkun's likely stories. The child was fond of prehistoric creatures and she had one handy. She gently touched the little purple gem she wore hanging from her left ear.

"Wake up, Mei, we'll have to pick up Takkun today!"

Her earring uncoiled into a black little shadow. It rushed along her extended arm then took a short glide to the backrest of the next armchair. It started as a small lizard, then it rose to its hind legs - and landed on the furniture as a four winged crow-like creature with many little teeth and clawed fingers among its flight feathers, like a piece of embodied evolution.

Homura looked the little raptor's plumage up and down then she turned back to the mirror to arrange her own. She slipped out of her home clothes and dressed up in a jiffy. Her new outfit for the day consisted of a short black skirt with a studded belt and a pair of black stockings with purple diamonds. Her top piece was a simple black t-shirt with a single word on its chest. Mei approved with an eager cry, took a short glide to the her waist then climbed up to her nape. She pushed her head through Homura's hair, threw her wings around the girl's neck and looked ahead with a grin, right above the "Reptile" print. She watched through the mirror as her owner applied some dark eye shadow and light lipstick.

When the girl was pleased with the result she took her keys and began her walk through the city toward Takkun's kindergarten. It wasn't too far from her and Madoka's school so she didn't bother taking a crowded bus. She simply walked along the park and the bridge instead, just like they normally did when they felt like going to school. Here and there people waved to her and she waved back with a smile. Her heart felt light, taking them away when their final hour would come was someone else's job. She had a lot to do in this new life but she had never felt so free before.

For a moment she saw herself from the outside as she walked under the blossoming trees, smiling, all in black, with her clawed and toothed reptilian bird on her shoulder. On an impulse, she leapt up in the air then whirled around on her toes and exchanged a grin with her familiar: she felt like a successful parody of a Disney princess. No, she was more than that: she was Death herself, almighty ruler of half of the world. More precisely, half of the almighty ruler of the entire world.

She had a look up to the building of the kindergarten. "Thankfully it isn't full glass like my school", she thought. Homura couldn't even understand how sane people could graduate from that institution. The kindergarten showed a much friendlier face of the pompously modernist city: its main hall was a park of palms and fig trees in enormous pots, the healthily opaque walls were covered with corkboards full of the children's drawings about the city's everyday life and their dreams. Homura stopped in front of a door and knocked. While waiting she studied the next picture on the wall. It must have been Takkun's drawing, Madoka's influence was apparent in its style. Mei hopped onto the board, shoved her claws into the soft cork sheet and examined the piece of paper. Homura wasn't sure that a real animal would have recognized its own portrait but this little raptor was a part of her subconscious. And the teacher seemed to notice the likeness too because she jumped back through the door thinking that the drawing had sprung at her.

The children peeked through the door, pointing and laughing at the reptilian bird. Before the kindergartner recovered Mei found a new target. She glided through the door, scurried along the long table and with another jump she reached the curtain. The children, with the exception of Tatsuya, followed and gaped at the small animal as she quickly climbed up to the top and took a long look at the room below. In the meantime Homura squatted and smiled at Tatsuya. The little boy threw his arms around her neck and let her lift him.

The kindergartner adjusted her thin-framed glasses.

"Go back to the classroom and catch that big crow! I'd like to have a talk with...", she began as Homura put the child down.

"Mei isn't a crow! She's Homura-nee-chan's dinosaur! She comes back if Homura-nee-chan calls her!", Tatsuya countered, but he obeyed.

"Akemi Homura.", the girl introduced with a deep bow.

"Tamura Ari.", the teacher replied, sizing up the girl in pitch black. - Akemi-san, if you don't mind my asking, who are you to Tatsuya exactly? I'm afraid his imagination is a bit too vivid. When I asked my new class about their families he said that he lives with 'dad, mom, my sister Madoka and her girlfriend Homura-nee-chan, the Angel of Death.' Are you some kind of... punks? What do you two do at home? That cute man must have both his hands full!"

"If you knew Madoka you'd never say such things!", Homura cocked her head to have a sharp look into the teacher's eyes. Tamura hesitantly took a step back.

"Tomohisa-san couldn't wish for a better daughter than Madoka! And he and Junko-san are great parents! I'm happy to be in their family.", she added, more meekly.

"Kaname-san only told me that he asked you to come for the boy. But 'his sister's girlfriend'... Aren't you a bit young for these things? How old is the 'Angel of Death' exactly?", she seemed to feel like asking more but made her mind.

"We're older than we look.", the girl guardedly replied. Of course she could play with the teacher and she usually enjoyed confusing people a little but this time her questions worried her and she couldn't find out why.

"Homura-nee-chan is Ediacaran! So is Madoka!", Tatsuya peeked through the door. Homura did almost envy him. As a pre-school kid he could say anything he wanted. She had to be much more careful to avoid the trouble of the constant patching of everyone's memories around her. But she didn't like to tell lies and couldn't look into Madoka's eyes when she did. Her new position demanded her to withhold information, though, so she got used to tell the same kind of half-truths Kyubey often did.

"Come on, Takkun! You know that there were no people back then!", she winked at the boy with a lopsided smile. Her best weapon was to make outsiders think they heard simple family bantering. Of course Tatsuya had just exaggerated, it was the earliest age he knew from the tales Tomohisa and the girls told him about long extinct animals.

Seeing Mei trailing behind Takkun through the door made Tamura recoil again. This habit began to annoy Homura and she felt wrong to order off her favorite familiar who never threw any tomatoes, only pecked at her fingers at times. Instead she let the little raptor climb up her clothes and wrap her wings around her neck again.

"Isn't this 'bird of death' dangerous?", the teacher asked. "I wouldn't like it to bite a child. What if it gives them some unknown infection? It looks like it has run away from a laboratory..."

Mei seemed to understand her words and hissed at her with open mouth, showing her many little teeth.

"I mean, there's no such animal. How did you get it?"

"I've had Mei for a very long time.", Homura answered, petting the feathered head that peeked out of her hair. "She's very smart and never bites without a good reason. She plays a lot with Takkun and never hurts him."

 _'She just runs or flies too far with my soul gem sometimes, or accidentally annihilates smaller objects'_ , she added in thought. It seemed that she couldn't convince the teacher.

"Look, Tamura-san, humans have been keeping predators as pets for thousands of years. They're often smarter and more interesting than herbivores. And Mei proved me many times that I can trust her. Believe me, she's no more dangerous than a well-trained dog."

Homura wasn't happy about the kindergartner anxiously staring at them. Sometimes she found it funny to freak people out but this timid young woman with her glasses and that long dark braid behind her back was too similar to her very first self, glaring at her, alert and ready to spring. It was perfectly normal to fear Death and her bird - but this time Homura didn't find this thought funny at all.

"I understand, Akemi-san, but I have rules to comply with. Letting a dog in the classroom wouldn't be much better. I wouldn't like you to bring any animal to the kindergarten, at all. I think I'd better have your parents in... And this Madoka too. I worry for the child's healthy development."

Homura put her hand on Tatsuya's shoulder stopping him, just in time. The child seemed to enjoy the game much more than she herself did and wanted to say something impressive to Tamura.

 _"Let it slide, you can play with Mei outside. We shouldn't tell her more."_

The boy knew that his adopted sister didn't talk right inside his head without a reason. But he didn't seem to be the only one to hear her warning. A worrying quick red flash in the teacher's eyes caught Homura's attention. She might have just imagined but even without Madoka she was way too powerful to carelessly imagine something this dangerous. So the girl said goodbye and quickly left the building holding Tatsuya's hand.

"Takkun, I'll stay here. Go to play, should you see anything strange tell me right away. You know the safe distance."

Takkun nodded eagerly.

"Should I tell you if I see the cat lady?"

"Only if she's stranger than usual.", Homura smiled then she returned to her thoughts.

Everything that happened in the kindergarten seemed perfectly normal. She could even blame herself for testing a stranger's tolerance with her looks and manner. The preschool teacher had weak nerves so they couldn't understand each other. It was the woman's job to take care of the children so the sight of such a strange family member could worry her. But it wasn't their conversation that worried Homura. It was her own intuition and Mei's warning, the two being one and the same. Now that she grew suspicious the world seemed different too. People silently watched her from the corner of their eyes and kept their distance. The events she had always feared and expected might have started. But she couldn't recall any signs that would have warned her. So it had to be the sign itself, and it came from an alarming proximity.

She shook herself and decided to join Tatsuya. She hoped that her subconscious would be ready with the answer by the time they'd have to go home. She took her phone from her pocket to see how much time they had. But the small screen stayed dark, no matter how she tapped and rubbed and shook it. She tried to recall when she left home but she couldn't. Why did she have to leave home right after getting up to begin with? As an answer the tiny display began to glow and the girl knew she had something to do. Her foster brother was absorbed in playing fetch with the little raptor. He picked a group of elderly people who came to play chess and cards in the park and threw a stick at their feet. Mei followed and grabbed it with her teeth, then crisscrossed the group taking a good look of every single person. They both seemed to take Homura's request very seriously. The next target was a pair of young mothers deep in conversation. The stick shortly landed next to their bench. The reptilian bird had already climbed up a tree, ready to jump, when Homura called her. A dying magical girl was waiting to be freed from her corrupted soul gem and taken to Madoka's house as a guest. Mei looked back, gave an angry cry and kicked herself away from the branch - right in the opposite direction.

Homura hissed some curse under her breath while her black feathered bony wings tore through her skin and clothes. She sprang up in the air, but too late. Mei was too far, Homura had no chance to chase her in her body anymore. Yet she took flight, the air hissed around her feathers as the trees underneath raced backwards. This was the moment when she realized what was happening. She took a sharp turn toward the sky and sped up. The parkway shrank in a frightening pace underneath. The Death's only weakness was her soul gem, gliding down there between the trees, tied to a half-baked bird that was hardly able to gain height by her own strength. A half-baked bird a hundred meters below her. Two hundred. Six hundred. Twelve hundred. Explosions flashed below, smoke rose to cover the city but there was no one to save, there was no one to worry for. The Tatsuya playing down in the park was a mere figment of her imagination. There was no sign, the war had already begun. Homura folded her wings back and in a deadly stoop she crashed into the ground.

* * *

 _A/N: (I've already decided not to use more musical titles yet what do I do? Here's a Nine Inch Nails song title, yes...)_

 _I'm still in trouble with the category. There's definitely less science than there was in MGC/GOSE. I wanted to write a nice wall of text here but my mind is blank..._

 _What? There's no Tomb Raider in this chapter? No problem, there's Death instead!_

 _Hashtag: Our reptiles are better || Clever girl || Homura Tamura || Ediacara || Wings_


	3. Orientation

**3\. Orientation**

 _v 0._ _901_

 _"The very first step will be to learn conjuring and using your weapon. Every magical girl has a tool for combat. It'll may surprise you at the first time but it'll be your magical weapon, the projection of your inner power. We know of someone who got ribbons."_

"It's like winning the fork in the Battle Royale lottery.", Lara remarked with a touch of cynicism.

 _"I do not understand."_ , the animal replied.

"It's okay.", the girl said with a wave of her hand. The creature introduced to her as Yonbey, an escort Incubator for magical girls. He didn't deny his alien origin but he knew enough about the local culture to avoid the other more sinister translation of number four. His knowledge seemed quite lacking otherwise.

"It happened in a book my governess made me read, because 'a modern British lady needs an open mind'. My father didn't interfere. He had given her a free hand. He was never home anyway."

Lara was still cautious around the alien. She couldn't know when he had spotted being watched. He may had been aware of her eavesdropping all along his discussion with that other alien. Even if he wasn't, doing away with that black reptilian bird before Lara's very eyes was alarming enough. He wasn't a least bit shy about it, to the point he asked the girl to drop the left-over gem into the gaping cavity in his back after the force field shrank to nothing.

 _"This is another task of magical girls."_ , Yonbey declared. _"You should go back to the palace too to collect the dark cubes the wraiths left behind. You left them unattended even though your contract instructs you to pick them up and hand them to me before they hatch again. This is why there's no end to them. They're also getting harder to beat as they gradually adapt to fight against you."_

Lara plainly refused his request then watched with a dark grin as the cheeky little animal clumsily rolling on the ground after he tried to fruitlessly paddle the purple gem to the middle of his own back with with his thumbless paws.

 _"I really don't understand humans."_ , the alien remarked when he finally managed to roll his dark back socket over the gemstone. _"You usually don't object to killing wraiths in exchange for your wishes. Sometimes you kill each other too, even en masse. This is your most natural behavior after all, this is how you compete for the finite resources of your planet. Even magical girls fight for territory. On the other hand, you gladly share these finite resources with privileged members of your species."_

He scratched his ears as if underlining the contradiction. _"But even in these strange cases we can usually find an underlying logical motive. But what are your motives to break your contract? How would leaving the remains of this dangerous magical creature benefit you?"_

"It behaved much more human than you do. First impressions are important to us, you know. And you don't seem very good at it."

 _"We don't even try to act like humans."_ , Yonbey answered. _"We have fluffy white fur, pointed ears, bushy tails. We look like creatures you keep as pets. Isn't it prudent of us to behave like them? It would cause dissonance if we tried to imitate you. Your choice_ _is_ _unreasonable."_

Then he rubbed against her legs. She stroked his back, sinking her fingers into his rich white fur. He felt just as warm and fluffy as a cat and killed with the same ease. But instead of purring he coldly reasoned. Lara's hand jerked back but she overcame her instinct and grabbed the skin of the alien's nape.

"You'd better remember you're just two aliens to me, fighting over something I don't care about. Didn't you say yourself that it's natural to us?", she warned him holding him in the air. "It's you who tries to involve me in your game with this 'contract' thing that you say bind me."

 _"You're a magical girl. We_ _hav_ _e granted a wish for you and, in return, you took on the task of fighting wraiths. But something apparently happened to your memory as you've been neglecting your duty for years. On the top of that you haven't even seem_ _ed_ _to sense our presence."_

Indeed, there were a lot of things in her life she couldn't explain. She was led to this island by strange intuition. As she got closer she met more and more hints of supernatural. Even she herself was difficult to understand to others as she immersed herself in the ancient stories. "A natural born Croft.", like Roth liked to say.

But Lara was sure it wasn't her parents' fault. She admired and despised Lord Richard and Lady Amelia Croft. They had been crazy daredevils of archaeology before they met their doom. But they were her role models only as archaeologists. As parents, they did a terrible job. And it became even worse after her mother disappeared. Lara could hardly see her father while he was looking for his wife's crashed plane in Tibet then began to maniacally look for some obscure artifact. Now Lara realized that she didn't even remember what that mysterious artifact was, but it became the end of him. It was a strange thought on a literally lost island that could easily become her Tibet in any moment. The gap in her memory was even stranger, filled with chaotic shards of thoughts - and nothing could bring light or order to its bottom. And the alien seemed to know it and tried to take advantage of her doubts. Her already slim sympathy for the little white animal grew even thinner.

"I don't have time for your little skirmish, I have my own.", she said standing up and flinging the bow on her shoulder.

 _"This is why you should listen. You may profit from what seems a waste of time now."_ , the furry little creature wagged his tail.

Lara eyed him in silence. She decided to give him some time. Just a little, that hopefully wouldn't prove fatal. No one could cast a stone at him, after all, not even Lara herself. Within a mere few days she reached the point where she could have been branded a ruthless mass murderer; and she was ruthless indeed, like Nature itself. She nodded silently.

And so she enrolled in her second magical girl training.

 _"If you close your eyes and trace the outlines of your body in thought you should find something off."_ , Yonbey began.

"The ring on my right hand.", Lara answered after a brief silence.

 _"_ _I_ _magine taking it off and placing it in the palm of your hand. It used to be instinctive but this time you need this introduction... Good. Now open your eyes and see what you're holding."_

She studied the jewel in her hand and saw an egg shaped green gem in an ornate golden casing. She gave the alien an inquiring look.

 _"This thing is called a soul gem. It's the source of your magical power. It's easy to repair your body using this power but you have to guard this gem very carefully. It helps you sense the wraiths too. They're the magical girls' natural enemy. Remember what you saw yesterday!_ _There's a whole army of them on this island, different types at that. The less human and more geometric they are, the more danger they pose. W_ _raiths are born_ _of_ _and feed on humans' pain, fear and anger_ _so their density is unusually high on this island_ _._ _It's so high that if you try to look for them through your soul gem you'll probably see_ _a solid glowing fog. If you keep looking the individual wraiths are going to separate. Those very wraiths drive the people of this island crazy_ _and inhumane_ _._ _F_ _ew can resist their influence. You magical girls are the best among the_ _m_ _."_

No matter what he said Lara didn't even need to look at her gem. She closed her eyes and still saw a gray imprint of the world. It was the same as many times in the last few days but her vision was much clearer now. With this clarity came the countless white hot pins to prick at her brain and thin glowing silk fibers, connected to a soldier of the priestess queen. She jerked both her hands over her eyes in an instant, but one thread still burned her senses, even through her flesh and bone until she blocked each and every one of them out of her mind. She found herself panting, leaning against a cliff.

"One of the threads is much brighter than the others.", she said when she finally mustered her strength to speak. She hoped that the alien wouldn't need more explanation.

 _"The higher the luminosity the stronger the presence. That must be the focal point of the island's negative energy."_

"Himiko?"

 _"Himiko, if you like."_ , the Incubator wagged his tail. _"At least what's remained of her. Unfortunately I can't say more. We couldn't get close enough_ _to her_ _."_

"I'll go right to her and destroy this last mummy of her before they could sacrifice Sam to her. Just like Hoshi wanted to do. So she can finally leave this island and so can my crew. I'd do the same if you weren't here. I'll certainly fight wraiths on the way there. You can keep your cubes. I hope it'll do because you can't expect more from me. I came here to find relics of an ancient Japanese kingdom and got everyone in my expedition in trouble. I don't want to lose any more of them."

 _"It'll be sufficient for now. But, regarding the cubes... You're going to fight. You'll use your magic and receive injuries. Your soul gem's is inevitabl_ _y going to dim_ _. You'll need the cubes to cleanse it. It's in a surprisingly good shape now but it can change any minute. Actually, it's impossibly clean considering that several year_ _long_ _pause."_

"And what do you think its reason might be?", Lara asked. Possessing hidden magic could actually explain how she could heal so quickly from the injuries she received in the last few days. Even that fracture from yesterday was gone without a trace. But the use of her magic should have resulted in her gem's darkening, following the alien's logic. She didn't feel like sharing the only possible explanation she saw with the Incubator. She came to regret that she hadn't taken the purple gem herself. It had been a bad choice. A sacrifice, in the very sense Roth had mentioned. Would she find the gem in the alien's back if she dissected him now? Or had he a way to digest it like the black cubes? Anyway, she shuddered at the mere thought of leaving her soul gem unattended around him.

Yonbey's expression didn't change as he watched her. His perpetual smile was confusingly inscrutable. But how much he could understand from the humans' body language, how much could he guess of their thoughts? Could he read their minds the way Lara could eavesdrop into his telepathic discussion?

 _"We couldn't prove any theories about it so far."_ , the Incubator answered after the pause. _"We're still working on this problem. But we're fairly sure that it won't stay this_ _way indefinitely_ _. We don't know of any counterexample so you_ _'ll_ _most_ _probably need the cubes to keep your gem clean."_

Another evasive answer.

"What if I don't?", she pressed on. "I lose my magic? I die? I burst apart and take the island with me?"

 _"If your soul gem goes completely back you'll disappear from this world."_

"Elaborate.", Lara snapped with a suspicious look.

 _"We don't know. The blackened gems simply evaporate contradicting every_ _scientific_ _model we built."_

"What do you know then?", the girl sighed. She didn't overlook that he used the gem as her synonym. Had he done it deliberately or it had been a Freudian slip?

 _"A lot of things that can help you to get to Himiko. We gave you tools to carry out your duty, after all. It would be inefficient to hunt wraiths with your bare hands."_

"I have weapons to hunt them. Tell me something new."

She pointed her assault rifle right at the Incubator. He just kept smiling without even batting an eyelid.

 _"Good. You'll possibly need them. You probably don't remember its original state but your soul gem has an abnormal cavity. It usually indicates lost magic or memories. Stronger wraiths can draw more than raw emotional energy from their victims, sometimes they_ _even_ _take_ _the_ _abilities to shape it. I'd like you to check if you can_ _still_ _summon your magical weapon. You'll have to transform first to do so."_

"Like Sam's favorite cartoon heroines...?"

 _"I don't fully understand but if you're referring your civilization's magical girl image, yes, pretty much the same way."_

For a moment she thought that the alien was just pulling a prank on her but his preparations would have been a very time consuming and elaborate one for a brief laugh at her in the middle of some awkward move. So she just let her body do the forgotten moves on auto pilot. It was a strange feeling. She almost saw herself from the outside to whirl on tiptoe and leap up in the air. By the time she hit the ground she already wore the early 20th century adventurers' obligatory leather jacket and her torn pants were intact again. She quickly looked herself up and down and noted that her outfit luckily lacked all the bows and frills she feared. Everything was clean and practical, with the exception of a single ornate jade pendant; but it radiated the same magic as her ring that became an egg-shaped gem later. It wasn't new, it had just transformed again.

Then she held up her empty hand and curled her fingers. She felt tingling as magical energy ran along her arm and shaped the arch of a modern bow in the air. But, as it began to solidify, it quietly popped into a flock of glowing grains. The embers trailed every which way and smoke rose from the moist undergrowth.

 _"Just the way I thought. Your other abilities may be intact, especially your regeneration, but you'll probably have to resort to your mechanical weapons."_

It was Lara's turn to smile. The alien didn't seem too imaginative. But she saw her bow with a handful of screws, wires and rings. She had built half of her weapon out of scraps. Now she visualized her magic that couldn't take shape by its own, and strained it along this frame. It would be the part to crown her masterpiece. She didn't hesitate. Greenish glow ran along the string as she drew the bow and the next moment the arrow flashed into a tree trunk.

Lara dashed to the tree to examine the effects of the hit. The arrow had crashed through the trunk thicker than her thigh and exploded into tiny splinters in the process. She imagined what kind of destruction such a hit could cause in a fully armored samurai's body. She even felt a bit bad for her satisfaction.

"Is there anything else I should know?", she asked the Incubator. The alien had been useful so far but her time was running short.

 _"Your moves refined a lot in the last few days and you even began to use your magic subconsciously to alleviate your physical limitations. But doing so deliberately would make everything easier. Your weight will hardly hinder your moves, your motor co_ _ntrol_ _will greatly improve_ _. You'll be able to do things you_ _don't think_ _possible_ _, even_ _now."_

So the alien had been watching her since she stepped on the island. Maybe even earlier.

"We'll talk about it on the way. I'd like to try a few things before that."

 _"Just a suggestion: Find some wandering wraiths before you break into Himiko's temple. A few common wraiths aren't a serious threat for a magical girl, not even for a beginner, but they let you observe their fighting style. If you met hundreds of them again your chances would be slim at best, though."_

"What do you think I've been doing?", she asked and stabbed her pickaxe into a hard quartzite rock. The tool stuck firmly into the hard stone it hadn't even been able to scratch earlier. She could cut a lot of corners this way. No cliff was impossible to climb anymore, her magic grabbed even the smoothest rock like toe pads of a gecko.

Now that she could approach her target in a straight line the island ceased to feel big. Lara could simply clear the distance and no one tried to stop her, save for the terrain itself. Himiko had apparently had her shrine built where the uninvited guest couldn't reach without crossing all the mountain ridges on the island. So the magical girl and her escort met a teasingly narrow but apparently bottomless rift with a thousand feet of vertical rock towering on the other side. The rift itself was bed to a turbulent river of rushing wind, full of hurtling driftwood. It was no way impossible to cross but still, it was a formidable obstacle. It was likely that the next ones would be the same, threatening with a severe slowdown.

She sighed and tied a piece of rope to an arrow. Hooking it in the rock wall on the other side didn't promise to be easy but she hoped that its magical augmentation would prove as useful as of the pickaxe. She drew her bow and released the arrow. The rope hissed through the rift like a snake, the arrow hit the wall blasting a hole in it, and fell into the abyss like a rock.

The girl pulled the rope back up with a frown. A sorry piece of the arrow dangled on its end.

"Of course. You've never said that magical girls are unstoppable."

 _"Your contract obligates you girls to fight and this is the purpose of your devices. Magical weapons, stronger and more durable bodies, improved regeneration, more refined moves and senses. Every one of you get these. We've met our side of the contract. It's up to your wits and imagination to make use of the tools your wish provided to you."_

Lara eyed the alien without as much as a word. He watched her like her teacher and examiner in one body. He provided an annoying mixture of useful advice and careless remarks and never stop smiling. Lara didn't care the least about passing his tests but had to do her best for herself and for Sam. She held up her soul gem and closed her eyes. The world's colors faded away yet she saw clearly. A wave swept through the scene, leaving shining threads, traces of Himiko and the wraiths. This time she was prepared for the piercing glitter and overcame the dizziness. She managed to ignore the blizzard of lights and saw a run-down wooden bridge still resisting the siege of the storm. At first it looked beyond her reach but a second later she glimpsed a cove in the rock. It was just a short climb away and continued in a promising tunnel. She couldn't explain but her instincts told her that it led right to the bridge. She floated closer to have a good look at the cave entrance but a huge blinding flash filled her inner vision leaving nothing but a picture, burnt into her retina. It was the portrait of a young, aristocratically pale Japanese girl. She wore the traditional hairdo of the Japanese nobility, long flowing blackness on her back and a pair of shorter tresses by the sides of her face. Only her bangs were a bit more messy than expected. She could be a rebellious medieval princess, or a miko from the 20th century, Lara guessed. The mysterious girl wore a dark ribbon tied into an enormous bow on one side and she looked back with a cheeky little half-smile, just as curious as Lara herself.

 _"Himiko...? Is she aware that I'm looking for her?"_

A booming voice answered her thought.

 _"Connection successful. Virtual entity takeover, phase one, successful."_

 _"Acquired information transmitted. Query details: Name, Akemi, Homura; Range, 6567."_

 _"Identification failed. Ranges 6510..6581, negative. Data damage patterns transmitted for further analysis."_

 _"Query details: Name, Kaname, Madoka. Range, 6567."_

 _"63 records found. Hit list appended."_

Then quick flashes of unknown faces, almost hidden in the numbing feeling of white noise and unsteady chirping. It was impossible to get more than a glimpse of any of them, or make any sense of the noise.

 _"Combine results. Range, 8580. List of entering, filter for 92.47.38."_

 _"Zero hits. Deeper regression needed. Collective suggestion: passive observation aided by intensified erosion. Gradual increase of presence recommended."_

Lara found herself leaning against the rock wall again. She hoped that the alien didn't notice anything. She knew that she had seen something she wasn't supposed to. Yonbey would probably consider this use of her abilities a bit too _imaginative_.

"That way. There's a bridge over the rift by the other end of that cave. I sensed wraiths on the way, close to the bridge."

 _"You'd better prepare for the fight and the possible injuries."_ , the Incubator warned. _"Pain may distract you but it can be mitigated by limiting your connection to your body."_

"I don't think I'll need it now. We have a reason to feel pain anyway.", she answered, slamming her pickaxe into the rock. "I want to be there, I want to know when I'm wounded."

 _"And to get you before you get too close to my gem."_ , she added in thought.

* * *

 _A/N:_ _I know. It has been a long time since the last TRAOD chapter. Coming with a rather sinister title. Maybe I just feel like this thanks to Wayward Pines - which has absolutely nothing to do with the story, by the way._

 _I'm trying to keep the story going but I don't promise anything. I'm working on chapters 4 to 6 in parallel right now, I have drafts even for the 7th that was planned to be the 5th back then, and I'll completely re-write it anyway... All in all, I haven't forgotten about my characters, I won't leave them hanging on a cliff... Now I came in such a big hurry it didn't even get a beta read so you can expect future changes, not that I leave my other works unchanged anyway..._

 _It's so true that despite resting for many months this very chapter was just changed yesterday. All thanks to the respectable game makers who created several different pasts for Lara Croft. I needed serious cherry picking and wrenching to make something intelligible of them. I must remark that she has multiple futures too but it won't do any harm in this story's frames, it's the same with Homura. (I've lost some foreshadowing translating this A/N, OMG!) They'll both meet events from their various possible/parallel pasts/futures anyway. If one doesn't understand humans despite working with them for millennia how could we expect them to aim better? (Hah, this one came through just right :D)_

 _One thing is sure: this chapter is still based mostly on the 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider. I know that many don't like it but I personally liked its Lara the most among her incarnations, she felt the most human to me. I've met the sequel since then and I can say that it makes her pretty contradictory. I hope she won't lose the last drops of her sensitivity and compassion - though it felt really stange to see her worry about the natives of Siberia then beating people to death and burning them alive a minute later._

 _I must confess that I have the same feelings about my own future 6th chapter of TRAOD and I'll try to make it right before releasing. If I fail I can still say that I was true to canon :D I'd really like to get there quickly, it's been exciting to write its events so far - and I'd like to show you how far it is from my Kisekae comics_ I want my hand back _:D_

 _(Also the paleontological rampage in the 5th chapter, disguised as a bedtime story for a 4-year-old boy...)_

 _Oh, and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for anyone who happens to read it._

 _To be continued._


	4. Curiosity

**4.** **Curiosity**

 _v 0.9_

"Ring!"

The climb axe sprayed sparkles and stone shards as Lara's magic helped it bite into the rock.

 _"One. I've found proof of the existence of magic. And of extra-terrestrial life, for that matter."_

New splinters stung her skin and she hoped they stung the little white animal as well. But he sat on her shoulder without as much as a blink, conscious of his invulnerability. Was he really invulnerable or he just lacked the ability to feel fear?

 _"Two. The island is full of magical creatures, including myself."_

It was a diverse problem. On the top of that most of these creatures were hostile.

 _"Wraiths."_

The crack that she had been following ended. Should she find another one or completely rely on her magic to traverse the sleek rock wall?

 _"Himiko."_

Other creatures had uncertain intentions.

 _"The Incubator who knows about Himiko."_

Who was repeatedly sprayed by rock shards and who didn't seem to care the least bit.

 _"The raptor who's unknown even to this Incubator."_

What could Mathias know about this facet of magic? He talked like a generic zealot. Did he know what it meant to give Himiko a new body to begin with?

 _"Three. Himiko used to be a magical girl. Or an insane witch who could move from body to body. It may be the same."_

Could it be her special ability? Or, perhaps, anyone could do it who had her soul removed and nailed to a fancy piece of rock by the Incubators? Anyway, the name of the gem couldn't be a coincidence.

 _"Four. The aliens brought this technology to Earth. But when did they first contact humankind...?"_

If she'd get out of this island alive she'd plough through as much of written history as she can. They surely couldn't operate on the planet without leaving traces. Magical girls and their escorts must have been hiding where the line between history and legends blurred. Witch and her cat. Bargains with the Devil. Wizards, warlocks, shamans.

She kept inching across the rock wall. Every beat of her climb axe brought the cave entrance closer. The Incubator on her shoulder looked ahead patiently or completely indifferently, with the purple gem in his back.

Even here, holding on to her axe's handle Lara needed all her willpower not to wince at the thought. Letting her hand slip and accidentally dropping the furry creature into the thousand feet abyss could have its benefits. But that very gem was the reason she wanted to keep an eye on him.

Of course the jewel was another problem. She deduced that it must have been a soul gem just like her own but she didn't know if it belonged to a magical girl or another alien. For what she had seen the owner had at least one fake identity on Earth. Yonbey seemed to be at loss and so did the aliens' computer system or whatever he gained his information from. They probably knew their contracts, provided that they didn't have conflicting factions, rivals or criminals among them.

She reached a niche that disturbed the rhythm of her climbing. She needed her full attention to get around it but then she had more time again, to think and to ask.

"Do you know who contracted Himiko? What abilities did she have back then? Is it normal for a magical girl to possess other bodies?"

 _"Of course we know. This area belongs to me, Himiko is my contractee. She's been very strong since then though her magic is not typical combat magic. But she could easily persuade her people so she could easily become their ruler. And she could always control weather to ensure the safety and prosperity of her country. Her being able to move into other bodies surprised us too. In theory any of you could do it but you'd have to overcome the resistance of the original owner which is difficult even for the likes of you. At the first time she was nearly kicked out of her new body. But we couldn't observe her subsequent takeovers because we were kept away from her shrine."_

Lara carefully filed away everything she heard about Himiko and focused on what she could read from between the lines. There was no sign of competition or opposition among the Incubators. Yonbey's choice of words painted a single organization so if the purple gem's owner was a magical girl they should have known about her.

 _"Would you entrust a crazy girl with the protection of Mitakihara?"_

Lara froze for a moment. The irony-filled voice wasn't a figment of her mind. It was low-key and dull but crystal clear, impossible to mistake for the alien's childishly happy messages. It wasn't too hard to link this voice to the picture she had accidentally got a glimpse of. She was sure that it portrayed the gem's owner and that this voice had to be hers. Thanks to the time she spent with Samantha Nishimura Lara could identify the language with absolute certainty: the raptor girl spoke modern literary Japanese.

The alien had most probably noticed her start and deduced that she had heard the fragment but he didn't show more reaction than when the rock shards hit him. Lara felt uneasy. She wanted to feel solid, level ground under her feet then slam the climb axe into his head and properly dissect him with a hunting knife. One thing held her back, the same that didn't let her throw him into the gorge. It was the inhabitant of the gem, the crazy Japanese raptor girl.

 _"Gott ist hilflos!"_

Dr Whitman's betrayal was a fresh wound, Lara couldn't trust any furry or feathered alien. But the feathered one had apparently helped her. Even that shady argument with the other alien had implied that she saved Lara's life. The furry one saw it as an interference with his experiment. And it apparently wasn't even the first time. Would Lara be better than the professor if she abandoned her secret guardian angel?

The entrance came closer and closer and Himiko's temple awaited right beyond the cave. She had no time to waste, that insane Mathias could start the ceremony any moment. Yet she hoped that they wouldn't meet so soon. She didn't know enough of the raptor girl and she was afraid of letting loose a second Himiko. After learning about the Sun Queen she shuddered at the thought of finding herself alone with a literally disembodied soul gem. The Incubator called the reptilian bird a host body. Then the gem's owner could be a reverse selkie who shot the wraith that spotted Lara then took off the dark haired archer girl costume and hid it somewhere on the island. Lara hoped that another fragment would show her if she was right.

And Yonbey sat on her shoulder all along, just a few inches from her treacherous thoughts. She shivered from the touch of the alien but at least she felt his softness and warmth. It relieved her unease. He felt just as vulnerable as the animals she killed to appease her hunger or the humans she murdered because she preferred her and Sam's life to theirs. She just had to make a quick surprise attack to prevent him from sealing her like the raptor.

But she waited in vain. She heard no new fragment, neither Japanese nor German. The swallowed angel remained silent. Lara nervously raced along the rock wall, grabbed the ledge with a jump and pulled herself up in the safe shelter. She still couldn't believe how easily she had traversed that distance dangling in the roaring wind above a near bottomless chasm. She had been thinking all way, pondering her chances. But she needed this safe place for what she planned. She knew that the winding passage before her cut through the rock until it opened into a torchlit cavern, an outpost of undead samurai. Even the Incubator urged her to fight them and it was just natural to scout the battleground before the attack.

Yonbey jumped off her shoulder and scratched his ear indicating that he had stepped aside. Lara closed her eyes and lifted her bow. That pale green glow ran along her arm again and covered the tips of her weapon in St. Elmo's light. She let the alien think that she was focusing on the oncoming battle. Her senses spread and felt around. She found seven wraiths in the cavern. Three hid on both sides under the gallery and the last one guarded the exit. They waited without a sound or even a thought, apparently in deep meditation, clueless of her presence. So she turned back to find the silenced soul gem.

First she instructed her body to lean against the rock then she turned her inner vision toward the alien and focused on the cavity in his back. His glowing furry body became translucent. There were no bones inside, just a single gem tightly fit in a transparent force field the shape of a twenty sided die. The gem's radiating energy cast winding purple ribbons of polar light around the tips. The sight wasn't unexpected and Lara hoped that she could see through the Incubator's force field. She gingerly felt around the imaginary icosahedron and tried to reach through its wall. She felt a hit that nearly rendered her precaution futile. Her ethereal hands slipped through the barrier but somehow they slipped too far. For a moment she _became_ someone else. She lived in another world, in lonely isolation, with a mission she had already begun to doubt. She had lost someone very close to her. More than close. That person had been her friend, her lover, her God. Then that person ceased to exist, disappeared from present and past, from everyone else's memories. She would have done anything to bring her back to existence. She longed to be close to her, desired her touch, longed to give her body and soul to her. But she denied it from herself knowing she could ruin everything in an instant. Lara recoiled and fell back into her own body, scared for her sanity.

Her reaction was just as revealing as it had been last time. Her ears rang, her field of vision contracted and shiny specks danced before her eyes. Her skin felt hot and she clutched her hand between her thighs, feeling tingling that just wasn't right in this situation. She wasn't a little girl anymore, wasn't easy to embarrass. She was much easier to anger. Now she was furious. She didn't even want to know what the alien did to the gem's inhabitant but she was sure that he crossed the line. Did he have any idea about the feelings of human beings? She drew the string and held the glowing tip of the arrow against Yonbey's face.

The Incubator looked back without the slightest sign of fear, he even had the nerve to wag his tail. He seemed toying with her, waiting for an excuse to dispose of her. He could probably choose thousands of other subjects to restart his experiment. Lara watched him for a while, eyes burning with hate, but lowered her bow in the end.

"If you know what's good for you... just don't get in the way of my arrows.", she grunted and stepped over him.

She still wanted to kill him but first she wanted to see what she was capable of with her magic, what she could rely on when her life would depend on being faster than the alien's thoughts. She put her new magical senses to use too. _"Ancient combat archers never bothered with quivers."_ , she murmured the mantra. She exactly knew the number and position of her opponents so she covered six more arrows in a veil of green energy and grabbed the whole bunch in her right hand. She felt every single piece like she didn't take her eyes off them.

With a casual move of her hand she picked one arrow and shot it while running. Her bow was drawn again before the first projectile reached its target. She landed every hit with deadly accuracy and the battle didn't take a moment longer than dashing through the cavern. She finished the last wraith with a point-blank shot between the eyes. In a few seconds the cave was empty. Only carbonized sugar cubes, remains of the toga-clad shadow figures left tumbling on the ground. And the alien knew what was good for him, he never got in her arrows' way.

 _"You used your magic efficiently and received no injury."_ , he summarized her performance. _"The darkening of your gem must be minimal. You should save the cubes for later, you'll probably need them. After use please deposit them in my grief cube compartment."_

Lara thoughtfully stared at her pendant. It was the same green jade as it had been a few hours ago. What would it look like dangerously dark?

 _"Depleted soul gems are completely black."_ , the Incubator answered the question she didn't ask. _"But black is an unstable state."_

 _"I think you can put yourself to test against a stronger opponent soon. We hoped you wouldn't meet its kind again before realizing your abilities."_ , he added after a short pause. _"Wraiths are diverse and capable of development. Some grows much bigger and stronger over time. These can even physically affect their environment, for example its temperature."_

She didn't feel like chatting with him so she left the cave with firm steps. She found herself back in the river of wind, at the base of a crumbly stone bridge. Weathered roofs of a carved rock temple grew on the other side of the gorge like fungus on a decaying log. A wide gate stood ahead and behind it Lara sensed her way to the top.

She fought her way through the empty bridge, leaning against the storm. Chunks of debris pelted the structure around her. She didn't even notice that the wind blew snow and little ice needles scratched her skin. Suddenly, something stirred in the corner of her eye. Two figures emerged from the blizzard, right in front of her. A hooded figure with his hood torn by the wind, tugging a girl in a white ceremonial robe and floral headdress.

Lara froze. She had been looking for them for days but she was thunderstruck now. Mathias stopped right in front of her and sneered at her from the cover of his human shield. He hid behind her so perfectly that Lara didn't even try to shoot him. She couldn't count on Sam's help either. Her friend didn't seem to perceive the world around her, not even the blizzard. The high priest had probably drugged her to make taking her to the sacrificial shrine easier.

"Mathias, why are you doing this? Do you think that the Queen will reward you for your service?"

"No! I think she'll be busy enough enjoying her shiny new body not to care what the hell I do!", he shouted through the din of the storm. "What do you think you'll achieve by getting yourself killed? You play the hero but you're just destroying everything in your way! You're just as arrogant as your civilization but you can't defeat a whole island! I know when to bend and I'll be the one to get home alive!"

She furiously slammed the arrow into the pillar by the sect leader's side. Mathias recoiled but didn't fail to keep the empty eyed Sam between them with his holy staff made of driftwood and a circular saw blade - a primitive symbol of the Sun. The pillar bent and gracefully collapsed between the girl and the priest who opened the gate without hesitation and darted in ducking through between the exiting behemoth's legs.

The giant in frosty samurai armor and mask clicked the padlock behind them then stepped over the remains of the pillar and brandished his Lara-sized iron club. The girl didn't even know if he was a leader of Himiko's undead army or an abbot of the wraith monks. She was only sure that they had been there on the island for aeons. According to the records in the island's deserted houses and bunkers they were feared by the soldiers of the second world war Japanese outpost and Mathias' followers alike. Lara had been trying to stay low in their presence so far but this time she couldn't avoid the fight.

She aimed at the middle of the giant's breastplate and prayed for her magic to be effective enough. The magically strengthened arrow broke through the iron plate and stopped halfway in with a hiss. It couldn't bring down such a huge opponent but at least held him up for a moment. The raging hurricane crashed a chunk of scaffolding where he would have stepped if not for the annoying thorn. When the wind blew the debris away the samurai just stomped on his dropped breastplate. The projectile was still there, embedded in the metal sheet. Where the wraith uncovered his body even his rotting meat was missing in chunks and colorful cubes spun and danced in the cavities.

"I shouldn't have shot him...", Lara grunted. She had no other choice but keep fighting. At least she had breached his defenses. She backed slowly while she perforated his armor with more projectiles. She hoped to make him drop the remaining pieces too but the giant seemed to get wind of her plan because he simply broke off the new arrows.

"To hell with magic!", Lara snarled and switched to assault rifle. She rolled through under the striking iron club and emptied the magazine into the behemoth's bared flesh. Then she unpinned a hand grenade and shoved it in the cube-filled opening.

She sprang behind the monster's back and darted as fast as she could. While the wraith sluggishly turned in his heavy armor she threw herself to the ground. Shards of charred metal and frozen flesh exploded from the undead monster's stomach but thankfully the hurricane deflected the smaller fragments.

It couldn't deflect the thousand pound club, though, it hit the ground just a hair's breadth from the girl. The bridge shuddered and Lara threw herself through the edge, out of the immense weapon's way. She stayed dangling over the abyss while the club slowly followed. As it reached the edge she focused her magic into her arms and jumped aside, slamming her climb axe into the next pillar. She climbed up with loud ringing and looked down on the remains of her enemy from the top of the pillar. The grenade wasn't as destructive as she hoped. The wraith was still standing and lively enough to reach up for her ankles and drag her down right in front of his feet.

Lara crashed down hard and rolled quickly out of the gargantuan iron-clad foot's way, back to behind the samurai's back. She stood up with great difficulty but still faster than the heavy giant turned. She felt stabbing pain at every breath but ignored it and pricked the armor's back with a straight row of arrows. Then she used this makeshift ladder to climb up the titan's shoulder. She wedged her axe under the rim of his helmet and pried it with all her might. The straps snapped, the head gear and mask fell revealing a naked ice tetrahedron instead of a head. Finally she noticed the undead monster's cold but tried to ignore it. She hammered her magically sharpened climb axe into the strange geometric shape again and again with savage determination, holding on to the swaying monstrosity with her thighs, defenseless against its deafening screams. Cracks ran through the crystal from the countless stabs and the entire object crumbled to dust. The empty armor collapsed under Lara and the huge chunk of metal that froze to her pants dragged her off the bridge again. She shot her makeshift grapple at the wooden railing in midair and quickly wrapped the rope around her arm.

She felt a loud crack and the world went dark for a moment as the rope diverted her fall and slammed her right into the rock wall. She broke something again, perhaps her arm or a few ribs, maybe both. Her entire body burned, she couldn't even distinguish her most serious injuries. Luckily she had fixed a reel to her bow so it could pull her up from the abyss because she probably wouldn't be able to climb back on the bridge on her own.

Cubes. She dizzily dug into the clattering pile of metal, scraping the snow for the little black cubes with frozen hands. She couldn't have cared less about her contract but if they could really help her it was high time to use them. The Incubator watched her without a word and she staggered past him just as silently. She fell against the gate, pulled herself up to the padlock and somehow managed to yank it off with her climb axe. Then she tumbled into the spacious hall surrounded by a ring of statues of the queen, crawled to the feet of the closest and collapsed. Half-dozen passages bored into the bowels of the mountain and she had no idea which one led to Sam and that deranged cult leader. She laughed hard at her own misery as her magical costume vanished leaving only her bloodstained, torn tank top and pants.

Then she fought back her despair and closed her eyes to find the two human figures far ahead. But her ability proved worthless here. The faint signs of normal humans were lost in the dazzling noise of an army of wraiths. They stood outside, waiting just for her. And behind these small specks shone a massive blinding magical signature, the presence of the Sun Queen. She painfully turned back to see if the alien followed her. He had just slid through the gate that she left slightly ajar then sit down a few steps from Lara. The gem was still gleaming inside his torso, though its light seemed to have faded a little.

For a moment Lara forgot even about Sam. She imagined to fly in panic, right to the speck of purple light and reach through the force field. Still trembling, she took the gem in her ethereal hands. She knew that she couldn't take it out of there but at least she wanted to tell her that she wasn't alone nor forgotten. Which of the two names could belong to her mysterious guardian angel? Akemi Homura felt just right.

In a flash she found herself sitting on the ground in a city park, right behind a bench. Looking through the gaps she saw a playground full of children and their parents. It was an astonishingly peaceful scene after the brutality of the island. But something was wrong with this world too: nasty blur sat on every face and faint black smoke oozed from everything, the people, the trees, the skyline. Lara saw a whole family in front of her. She guessed an adult couple, two adolescent girls with waist-length hair and a little boy. The mother stayed standing to brush one of the girls' hair while the other sat down to take notes. The brushed girl was the only one with colors and details, the others were mere silhouettes in front of the smeared background, speaking in strange half-words.

When the girl finally got her ribbon back from her mother and escorted the child to the sandbox Lara followed her. The important things had to happen around the dreamer and who could it be if not the only sharp figure among the blurred shadows?

 _"Even I can't believe that we've only known her for a mere two months! And she was so familiar when we first saw her, I still don't understand!"_

Strange. She heard real words in the gibberish as she passed the bench. Were they talking about the mysterious girl?

 _"I'm worried about her."_

"Me too!", she snapped but the blobs didn't react.

Lara leaned against a tree to keep an eye on the girl in dark skirt and beige sweater. She looked painfully thin and suspiciosly graceful even doing as mundane things as helping a little boy to build a sand castle. Perhaps she used her magic all the time. It didn't take too long for the girl to notice that she was being watched. She jerked up her head and looked right back at her stalker. There was no mistaking, that accidentally intercepted image had portrayed this very face.

It had only been a few hours ago but Lara's world had fundamentally changed: now she was deliberately spying behind the alien's back. But the girl's face had changed too. It lacked the cheeky confidence that made Lara mistake her for Himiko. She looked but a weary teenager trying to do normal things at a hopelessly abnormal place. Could she sense the trap around her, or her captor made sure that she couldn't realize? Perchance disclosing it to her would help. Lara hoped that the dream world would permit...

The mysterious girl stood up from the sand castle and came over to her. She stopped right in front of her and looked her in the eye from a good four inches lower. Lara unwittingly compared her to Sam and by comparison this girl was small and pale. She seemed to be a completely different character too: it was hard to imagine her visiting party after party in the city night, bathing in the crowd with beer bottle in hand like Samantha Nishimura often did. It was her gaze that made all the difference. One piercing glance of the impossible lavender eyes could have sobered up her half-Japanese friend's average company. This color had to be the side effect of her magic because she was doubtlessly a magical girl or even more. Something in her presence dwarfed Himiko's blinding magical signature to faint candle light. This sensation could hardly fit the skinny little teenager who had submitted to hair brushing so obediently. It was a truly intriguing dissonance.

"You are Akemi Homura-san.", she broke the silence.

She didn't really need confirmation. Somehow she felt that only one answer was possible.

The mysterious girl gave a brief nod. Lara didn't know if the gem's messages were censored or she just happened to be the silent type but at least the message had gone through.

"You are not alone. I'd like to help you."

Homura tried to answer but the world jerked like picture of an old broken television. It felt nauseating and threw Lara back into her body that still rested against the legs of a statue in a cavern, with her left arm uselessly hanging by her throbbing side. How much time had she spent in the other world? The visit was probably shorter than it felt but she'd have liked to know how long she had been vulnerable.

Thankfully no one attacked her. Only the Incubator was there, sitting by her outstretched left leg and looked into her opening eyes wagging his tail. But his presence didn't really feel safe now. She felt an instinctive urge to hide behind her folded right knee but she decided to fight it. She didn't want to show any sign of weakness or guilt. The only one who should have felt guilty was sitting in font of her. Lara's eyes gleamed with anger.

 _"Believe me, shooting me would be pointless. You shouldn't waste your magic."_ , the alien cheerfully warned. _"You're in almost as bad shape as a day ago."_

"I don't need magic for that.", she answered but her limbs felt too heavy for as much as a jerk. Her weapons hung from her body, hopelessly out of her reach.

 _"It's high time to cleanse your gem. You used your magic too many ways."_

Was it an implication or an attempt to lure her in a trap? Lara laborously lifted her left hand in her lap and placed it on her ring. Every muscle in her arm objected wildly but she felt that this was the pain of healing. Perhaps this was the reason for the gathering clouds inside her soul gem. Regeneration used a lot of energy. She fisted her hand around the small jewel and didn't intend to let go.

 _"The usual method is building a circle of cubes with your gem at the center. The cubes draw the darkness out of your gem in visible streams. Each of them can only absorb a little amount of taint. But their range is limited and they aren't effective if placed too close to each other so there's a limit on how many you should use simultaneously. The optimal configuration is 12 pieces around a circle of 25 centimeters in radius. Based on your gem's state it won't be enough so you'll need at least one more circle."_

"So they're usually used by the dozen. Does a single cube work?"

 _"Of course. But it's quicker to use a group at a time."_

"You tell me to let go of my soul and seal it in a in a circle of dark energy with my own hands. How convenient! I won't."

The alien didn't even flinch. His smile was impenetrable, it didn't tell Lara if her suspicion was right, whether Yonbey had been intentionally silent about the true nature of the gems, whether he cared about her distrust, whether he had any idea about trust to begin with.

Just to be on the safe side she approached her gem with one single cube, alert and ready to throw it away in an instant. But it seemed to work, a narrow stream of black smoke wound out of the gem and targeted the remains of the wraith. The flow of darkness meandered on for a few seconds then it faded away leaving her gem a little brighter.

Yonbey turned his back to Lara and opened his drop-shaped trapdoor. The girl strained her eyes in vain, the darkness was perfect on the inside. So she just dropped in the cube and took another.

This time she looked into the bottomless cavity with her eyes closed. The purple gem was there, inside the cat-sized creature and far away at the same time. She held her hand back from reaching for it.

 _"...I'd break your neck right away!"_

It wasn't Yonbey. The voice inside her head belonged to Homura. But who could she threaten, what dream could she see?

Lara's eyes shot open. She searched her pockets in a hurry. She piled up the cubes at her feet, dropped a spare magazine, a box of matches, a coil of line, a switchblade and finally the GPS. It couldn't show her location here a hundred meters below the middle of nowhere but kept counting the passing seconds in the corner of its screen with perfect indifference.

She drew another trail of darkness out of her gem and threw another depleted cube through the trapdoor. Then she took a short look at the display and submerged.

The playground was gone without a trace. The new scene took place in a spacious modern living room. The windows were shaded and three silhouettes sat in the dusk. Then a beam of light pierced the darkness and lit the mysterious Homura's face, drawing dark circles around her tired eyes.

And she began to tell a story. Lara leaned against the wall, unseen in the omnipresent shadow, and listened spellbound. No matter how she racked her brain she couldn't find the tale's parallel in any mythology known to her. It wasn't because of the extinct creatures that took the roles of ordinary animal characters. Homura had her own unique mythology and the story looked more like a confession in cypher.

Like Homura had come from another world and tried to let her friend in on her different reality without disclosing her secret to a hidden enemy. Her uneasiness infected the other adolescent girl too. They glanced around in suspicion but simply overlooked the interloper in the shadows. Their anxiety was contagious. Lara walked around the room, searched every nook and cranny but she couldn't find any other spy. Did the alien need to be embodied here to interrogate the captured soul gem? If not, he could easily know about her presence by now. For a moment she lost her grip on the dream world. She felt fading but strangely it made her visible for the little boy. She felt his startled look on her but in the next moment he disappeared together with the whole world in a chaotic flash.

Lara sat in her own reality, surrounded by the cold, empty and still colorless walls of the cave. But she saw little glowing rectangles around the edge of the ceiling and inside the statues. How could she have failed to notice them? Her eyes shot open and focused on the GPS' screen.

"One single second...", she murmured in astonishment. She had listened her guardian angel's tale for minutes. No, that girl wasn't even an angel anymore. She turned into a princess, held captive by a pint-sized alien dragon. And she wasn't even the only damsel in distress in this story. The other was locked up in the top chamber of the tower of the island's ancient witch. Lara was here for her rescue and was finally getting close to save both. This hall was the basement of the witch's castle and the little dragon sat right by her feet wearing his perpetual smile.

Hanging on to the statue she struggled to her feet, lit a torch and carried it along the arc of the wall. She had already suspected that the cavern wasn't a mere back entrance to the shrine on the peak. The statues weren't decorations either. They were all different but faced the future and the empire's enemies with the same determination.

The same name was written on the wall behind every one of them, only the letters became older and older. The farther Lara looked into the past the harder it got to decypher the ancient Japanese script. One thing remained the same: the queen was always called Himiko. But every chapter ended with a new name. Zakuro, chosen. Aya, chosen. Minoriko, chosen. Wakana, chosen. Names and more names. Then she completed the circle. Hoshi was the last of them, the one that toppled the queen. Her name wasn't wiped out, only chiseled through with a single line, as a memento for the future, a symbol of eternal disgrace. Traitor, told the hasty marking. Someone engraved it in a hurry, yelling through the din of the collapse of Himiko's country.

While the walls held the records of the queen's glory the pictures on the metal floor told another story. Lara began to see the big picture and she was sure that Mathias saw it too. The plants of the island made a recipe. Some of the ingredients were familiar, all poisonous or hallucinogenic. The court doctors brewed an elixir that the chosen priestess had to drink to the queen. Then the queen gave something to her. The queen was laid on a bier, the priestess sat on the throne. The corpse was entombed inside its stone effigy.

Lara looked up to the towering statue and ran her fingers along the edge just above the pedestal. She felt a tiny crack, hardly visible in the torchlight. She stuck the tip of her climb axe in the crack and prized off the front of the sarcophagus. The Incubator watched with expectant eyes and the stone block almost smashed him as it crashed down. The girl didn't even blink when he gracefully jumped aside. His reaction was quick but not instant. She noted this information and shoved the torch in the statue.

The light revealed a mummy in decaying ceremonial clothes. It looked back with accusation in its dark eye sockets. Its hands were tied together on its chest, still grasping a foggy grey glass egg with its skeletal fingers.

Something clicked. A new memory bubbled up from the gap in her past. It had happened after her mother disappeared. Lara holed up in a hidden corner in the immense and mysterious library of the Croft Manor. She collected ancient stories, different aspects of something her father was obsessively looking for. Did Lara try to help him... or, maybe, compete him? Back then she didn't realize the importance of those tales. But now she knew where to find her own kind in history.

"The legend of the lich... A mage hides his soul into an object so he'll always return when his body is killed. Many think that it's an invention of modern fantasy but in reality it's an ancient concept. The word itself stems in the proto-germanic language and predates Christ himself. And it's not even the only evidence of the knowledge of our existence! Koschei the Deathless in Slavic folklore had been a human but he had enough of mortality. So he buried his soul in a chest on a remote island. If you dug up the chest a hare sprang out. If you killed the hare a duck burst out of the corpse and flew away. Inside the duck there was an egg and Koschei's soul was a needle in that egg. If you broke the egg you killed Koschei. If you stole it you gained control over him. And this, here..."

She grabbed the jewel and tore it out of the mummy's bound hands. Phalanges bounced on the metal floor as she held it up before her eyes - then smashed it against the ground. The egg proved to be but a thin shell. It exploded into tiny shards, leaving an empty golden casing. Lara picked up the remains.

"...used to be Koschei's egg. But where's the needle?"

She walked around the cavern and pried every statue open. The Queen's heavy effigies fell one by one and Lara shone her torch into every standing back piece. They all contained the same mummy, except for two. One was empty and one had a corpse but its hands were missing above the wrist. The thief bound the bones of the forearm together with a leather strap adorned with a brass cogwheel.

"Mathias took and hid the real one long ago. But he needs Himiko's soul to complete the ritual!"

She submerged again to check up on the brightest light spot. It was still there beyond a thick layer of rock, shining on the horizon, waiting to be given to the Chosen. It had to be the place where Mathias' was heading. She could even see the faint lights along the path there. Little gleaming rectangles guarded both sides of the trail just like the inside of the coffins. Like a last line of defense. Like even Himiko was afraid of something.

 _"I don't know if Madoka comes for those who don't reach complete darkness."_

Lara's hand twitched as she realized the meaning of the sentence. If she had been waiting for an interesting fragment now she got it. But she controlled herself. With artificially calm moves she plucked the charm from behind the mummy's head and held it into the light. If its function was keeping tomb raiders away then they'd have placed it on the front piece or the joint. But what purpose could it serve like this? What could the lich queen of Yamatai fear?

She saw an ambiguous Japanese script on the sheet. _Law of the Circle, the greatest robber._ Or something completely different. Lara raised her brow then she did the only thing she could think of. She stepped to the next, oldest coffin and plucked the first Himiko's charm too.

The text on this browned sheet was written somewhere in the first millennium. This was the crudest, most primitive form of Japanese writing. This syllabary used complex Chinese characters without any regard of their meaning. The previous charm was written more recently so its hundred possible readings could easily sidetrack Lara from the most significant interpretation, but this one revealed the first three syllables stark-naked. Madoka.

 _"Have you found something important?"_ , the alien asked while he hopped on her shoulder. The fluffy tail flowed around Lara's neck with its end twisting in front of her nose and mouth, halfway between rubbing against and suffocating her.

Could the meaning of charms be unknown to a peddler of magic? Perhaps he couldn't he read it. He may have found it inefficient to learn obsolete versions of the most needlessly complicated writing system on Earth. Perhaps he tried to test her trustworthiness. Her thoughts bounced at the speed of light. The alien had said that they couldn't get close to the queen. Lara liked the idea. She could even tease the unpleasant animal a little.

"She surrounded herself with ofudas.", she answered while she pocketed the sheet. "It used to be a common belief that these charms could ward off evil spirits. Do they affect your kind?", she asked with the tiniest of a sadistic edge.

The insult seemed to fly over his head.

 _"I feel no effect at all. We weren't held back by these 'charms' but the wraiths. This piece of paper seems to be a product of superstition to me. Your ancestors made many attempts to copy the effects of magic. It may be one of them."_

"It could still keep one thing away from her."

 _"What?"_

"Death."

* * *

 _A/N: Little morsels from Lara's past, some vague picking towards Rise. Don't worry, later there will be connections to older games too. But for now you can watch how a magical girl fights, who is a fine English Lady too :D_ _Imagine her archer part like Legolas fused with Lars Andersen only more magical and more brutal._

 _I know, I know. It took me an awful lot of time to publish a new chapter... Unfortunately it seems to be my speed when I'm pretty absorbed in writing... Oh, and the chapters are growing. 5th will be much longer again, and 6th will be even longer. I know even though I haven't yet finished them._

 _Koschei the Deathless: Slavic folklore character, one of the prototypes of Liches. Lara tells pretty much everything. I've seen her taking audio logs on her dictaphone, that was when it clicked, I just had to make her have such a speech._

 _Hashtag:_

 _4\. Butterfly effect || Tomb raiding || Slavic folklore || Oni / Enlightened Wraith || Choice Of The Proper Tool_

 _Thanks to **shiNIN** for beta reading!_


	5. Searchlight

_(A/N)_

 _It's unusual to for me to make notes before a chapter but I must warn everyone that it'll be a rough trip. It explains why I worked on this one for a time that might have looked like a hiatus. The chapter has two core ideas and both are quite old. One was inspired by Hozier's Take me to church, the other by the concept movie. I needed writers like Erin Ptah and BHS to develop the nerve to shape this chapter like this. This is definitely the most mature filter worthy of my works ever, without the slightest hint of paranoia._

 _The second half is a palaeontological rampage disguised as a bedtime story for human kids who like dinosaurs. Therefore it has no dinosaurs at all._

 _Tags: Mei long, Archaeothyris florensis, Thrinaxodon liorhinus, Inostrancevia alexandri, Smilodon fatalis, Hadrocodium wui, Tiktaalik roseae, Heterocephalus glaber, Gallus gallus domesticus, Erythronium japonicum, Lanius excubitor_

 _More tags: World full of nothing, Closer to God, Majuu Hen, Concept movie, Bootstrap Dinosaur, Haibane Homura, Madokami, Judas, Walpurgis Memorial, Dr Sakura, Dirty Lady_

 _Notes on some disturbing creatures:_

 _* Thrinaxodon, Permian/Triassic: One of the Synapsid survivors of the Great Dying. It was a burrowing insectivore. It had ribs only along its rib cage and used a diaphragm to breathe very much like a mammal. It was probably furry and warm blooded, and though it laid eggs it possibly fed its offspring via mammary glands like modern monotremes._

 _* Inostrancevia, Permian: The greatest of the Gorgonopsids. Not a survivor but an apex predator of its age. I've seen a picture of an Inostrancevia in tiger strips right here at DevArt and I knew instantly that this is how it has to look like in this story!_

 _* Probably no Gorgonopsid could prick its ears because they likely had none. They wore holes in the sides of their heads like reptiles._

 _* Taxonomy of the two sisters: it's a paradox. One of them is a Synapsid (like Archaeothyris, hence the tag) while the other is a Sauropsid. They look exactly the same otherwise. Of course it doesn't make sense but if the bloodlines diverged somewhere (they had to) it must have been their brood._

 _[Acanthostega would be a better fit for Sayaka but Tiktaalik sounds better]_

 **5\. Searchlight**

 _v 0.901_

"I'm so sorry, Miki-san... I've let you down again even after you helped us against the Devil...!"

Homura was kneeling among the slowly evaporating dry ice crystals. The outlines of the empty subway station began to fade in around her. But one thing didn't emerge from the ice: Miki Sayaka's body. Seventh Avenue, the place was always the same. There seemed no escaping this fate.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to the familiar face. Golden eyes watched her with almost motherly care. If Mami knew how much older she was... Kyouko stood a little behind, leaning on her spear, head bowed, carefully keeping her face in the shadows.

"You were right, Akemi-san. You did your best and I should have listened to you. I've made a terrible mistake. Maybe you should be our leader from now on."

Homura shook her head with a faint smile, wiping her eyes with great effort.

"Would you hand over the protection of Mitakihara to a crazy girl? No way, Mami-senpai... This is my fault, it happened because I let you keep me away from the wraiths! And you know them way better anyway. Believe me, you're much fitter to lead us!"

Mami watched her face with great curiosity but she saw no sign of mocking or resent. Homura had every right to blame her because she knew exactly what the leader of the Fantastic Four (maybe Holy Trinity from now on) thought about her. Yet her expression was serious and sincere. For a moment, because in the next she lowered her eyes and turned her back to them.

"Leave me alone for a little... Please.", she said in a bleak tone and left for the escalator, her long dark tresses fluttering in the sudden wind.

She couldn't see her companions exchange looks behind her, nor the red eyed shadows sneaking in her trail.

Her uninvited guardians watched her aimlessly roam the city. Her meandering route completely lacked the method of sweeping through inhabited areas for witches or wraiths. She erratically plunged into the darkest alleys where the homeless and the drunk cowered in fear of her presence, as well as the most crowded streets of the brightly lit shopping district.

Her route gradually drifted out of the densely populated parts and straightened along an outbound highway. This was the place where her new-old friends had found her, in the middle of the road, lying at the foot of the guard rails. As Mami told her she had been muttering incoherent creepy fragments and they had to lead her steps because she just kept staring in the distance with empty eyes.

Normally they'd have taken her to a hospital but the ring of magical girls on her finger complicated the situation. Normal medical treatment would have just opposed her magic and hindered her healing and her words could have given the doctors dangerous ideas.

A little later Kyubey joined their strange procession. Even he didn't know about the mysterious girl which started to bug Kyouko too. The only thing they could do was hiding her in Mami's home until she'd recover enough to tell them what had happened to her. Though the Incubator couldn't help his company still had the benefit of silencing Homura. This way they received much fewer suspicious looks as they escorted the new girl through the city, supporting her from two sides. But when they arrived Kyouko had to get the little animal out of the apartment because Homura didn't say a word in his presence.

Then they had to realize that getting her talk didn't help at all. She burst in hysterical laughter at some of Mami's questions. She answered the others with Frankenstein sentences of mangled Japanese, English and German expressions. Most of her creepy revelations had nothing to do with the questions anyway so they gave up and let her sleep first. In the morning she pretended to not remember anything and Mami accepted her disturbing visions as hallucinations caused by the wraiths' influence on her.

She slowly passed the deserted factory building where they had practiced on real opponents for the first time. She had grown lucid enough by then for Mami and Kyouko to trust her in real combat. Fighting wraiths was completely different than hunting witches. Ordinary wraiths had never been humans and didn't show any sign of individuality. They didn't weave dream worlds of their wishes and suffering. They just covered the world in a camouflage net of uniform gray mist and slid forward in senseless silence.

But it didn't have to be this way. Wraiths were vampires of this world, they just fed on emotions and memories instead of blood. Sometimes the smaller bit more than they could chew and the memories overwhelmed and transformed them. The usual result was a disturbed half-sentience that sometimes even made the wraith's shadow visible to normal people and bound the insane monster to certain places or people.

"No one else knows what ghosts really are and where they come from. Therefore it's our job to fight them.", Mami taught her but it wasn't new at all. She was aware of it and the deadly poison deep inside her soul. Her feelings, memories and abilities would have been too much even for the hungriest wraith, giving rise to something that even the four of them wouldn't be able to stop anymore. Homura knew that this time the apocalypse maiden was her so she accepted the protection of the team and supported them from a safe distance with her arrows.

But all the effort of three magical girls, all her preparations and leaving her shield and the Goddess' ribbons behind seemed to go to waste. Now that she was a lich again her soul gem weighed on her with leaden gloom. It was an intentionally flawed construct designed to collect and sustain all the negative emotions of its owner until she gives up and loses her mind to despair. The pure pointless malice made just as much sense in this world as Homura's wish that even the Incubators didn't know. And as her gem grew darker this absurdity filled her mind with doubt in everything.

She lost sight of the light and began to see things she had left in another world. Patchwork crows circled over her head, she heard childish voices whispering crude German curses from the shadows and treetops. Homura couldn't even imagine why they had been doing it back when she couldn't understand a word of their language.

As she stepped on the bridge at the edge of the city she left the voices behind. As if the lamp posts couldn't cast enough shadow for the fourteen of them and they decided to stay together in the city. Or they played hide-and-seek in the yellow light that caught up to Homura from behind and covered the pavement under her feet in golden glow. Only one thing could glow like this: the gigantic artificial cliff on the riverside that held this part of the other world together. Its silhouette in the Mitakihara skyline had become as famous as Neil Armstrong's footprint. Many hated the looming crystalline mountain and the outlines of the trapped eldritch horror inside. Thousands signed the petition to at least turn off its highlights but despite all the protest the plastic cliff stayed as a memento.

Homura turned on her heel to face the ghost from another world that still followed her. But it wasn't the sinister bulk of Walpurgis Memorial. She saw a white van crawling closer in the slow lane. A piece of junk on wheels that shouldn't have been here. It had been blown to pieces by Homura herself. She stood hypnotized by the headlights, it took all her willpower to look away. As she turned back something stirred in the corner of her eyes but she didn't care just ran like hell.

That van had never exploded in this world. It could even be here, it was all normal. She looked back in relief but the vehicle wasn't there anymore. She forced her legs to a breakneck speed. She was a magical girl after all, one of the select few who could actually outrun a beat-up van, at least an _existing_ one.

She hopped from streak to streak of shadow, all along the bridge, in a forest of glowing red eyes. Then she plunged into the real, uniform pitch black woods. There were no shadows in there just cozy darkness that dissolved the malicious eyes. She kept tumbling through the bushes, right into the heart of darkness.

Blackened beams arched over her head, the remains of the floor gave familiar creaks under her feet. She had already been here, more than once. Kyouko would have probably said that she couldn't get any closer to God. Homura could almost hear the sarcasm in the voice that only existed inside her head. It was another Kyouko's voice. That Kyouko had found great use of her brilliant mind. She had given her anger a direction saving space for empathy and protection. That Kyouko had grown to be a strong support for her and the girl who became God.

But that Kyouko was different from the one she met day by day. That other could be the figment of her imagination. She may have dreamed up her Goddess too...

She stepped forward, soul gem in her hand. The muddled dark purple crystal shed dim light on her surroundings.

"You can't be too far, can you?", she asked but her doubts tore her apart. She placed the jewel on the run-down altar. At last, the time she had been expecting for weeks or decades would arrive soon. She hardly dared to breathe, just stood staring at the dark clouds that chased each other inside the crystal. The remaining bright spots counted down her remaining time. She knew that every move of her body and every transmitted thought consumed these leftovers.

"Ten. Nine. Eight..."

She grinned with watery eyes. It was a stupid idea to let the others protect her. She should have run headfirst into the wall like Sayaka used to. Like she did. Miki Sayaka was ahead of her again.

"Seven...?"

No, it didn't work like that. No one ever knew the exact moment when the last spark in her gem would finally fade away. But she was sure that it would be the moment when she completely gives up on her Savior. Then she'd come for her. _If_ she'd come.

"Are you hiding too, stalking me in the shadows? You've never been like this! But I understand. You are a secret, aren't you? You know that it's inevitable. Why couldn't we see it in time...? And what about those two? They had to know everything, hadn't they?"

Then she realized what she had just said. She glanced around in horror, looking for the gleam of beady red eyes but she could only see the darkness of the crumbling building. She wasn't afraid of the church, though. She knew that it didn't hurry collapsing. She remembered spending a whole night with Her right here, six years in the future. Or she imagined, she corrected herself.

She knelt on the top of the altar. She didn't even know why. Maybe it got her closer to God by half a meter. Something sparkled by the top of her field of vision but as she glanced there it was gone. Then, suddenly, two arms fell on her shoulders and someone hugged her from behind. Homura tried to make a turn but the hands in white gloves stopped her gently but firmly.

 _"Hush, Homura-chan! I'm a secret, you shouldn't see me. Your eyes are their eyes too."_

The girl trembled. Something was very-very wrong. She didn't even know if the message was sent by someone else or her own subconscious. But the voice rang so familiar and the hands felt as real as a law of nature can get. She even felt the warmth of a body cuddling up to her from behind. She closed her dangerous eyes as her supernatural visitor pulled the ribbon out of her hair and blindfolded her with it. She didn't mind, she would see her soon anyway when _they_ wouldn't spy through her senses anymore.

"Do you... always... need it?", she touched the ribbon before her eyes.

 _"You are special, Homura-chan. I'll take you away in a different way."_

Her eyes filled with tears. She couldn't fight the erupting memories of the recurring nightmare, even though they were hazy like they didn't even belong to her. The imaginary people with blurred faces, the inhabitants of that Potemkin city. And those childishly wicked little creatures. They scared her to death, she couldn't help it. Leaving this world was one thing but meeting them again was something completely different.

 _"Don't be afraid, Homura-chan... Even they can't see me now. This time will be special."_

She was confused. A thousand ideas flashed through her brain, as aimlessly as her steps would have been if she had tried to tumble out of the dark ruins in her blindfold. One of the thoughts made her cheeks flush. Her mysterious visitor giggled. How much she missed this giggle from this world! She'd have given up on everything to hear it again and now it was there, ringing right in her ear.

The hands caressed her cheeks then inched lower and lower. When they reached her waist they slipped below her magical girl dress like light breeze. Then they playfully crawled up her belly and ribs. Homura didn't really need a bra so there was nothing to stop the silken gloved hands from cupping the little mounds and taking their time with her hard nipples.

Homura shook with fever.

" _Madoka_ , please!"

The name was a mere telepathic message. She was still sane enough to keep this secret. She held on to this last shard and moaned without words when the fingers found the rim of her pantyhose and gently peeled it off her thighs.

 _"Your legs are so perfect, Homura-chan! After so many worlds you still really care to stay young and beautiful for me."_

The voice alone was enough to recall that mischievous little smile in the corner of the other girl's lips. It was the dearest voice and the dearest smile in the world...

The playful fingers tickled a bit as they continued their way up. She let out a loud gasp when they touched her most sensitive spot through her underwear. She squirmed as they stripped that last piece of fabric off her. And the divine fingers returned like the law of nature who used to be Kaname Madoka hungered her just as much as she craved Madoka.

The long waited touch made her twitch. She felt the blessed hand discover her sensitive parts again. When two fingers parted her inner lips she relaxed and prepared for the third. Then she realized why her lover's touches felt so strange.

" _Madoka,_ your gloves..."

The hands disappeared. She instantly regretted what she said. The thought of Madoka slipping _something more_ inside her felt arousing now.

 _"You know, Homura-chan, I'm not human anymore. I tried to be careful but... it probably won't hurt you."_

Her voice was full of love. Madoka cared for her like a deity cares for a beloved mortal. The way she grabbed her had been rather physical, though. What could she be worried about...?

She heard swishing silk then felt Madoka gently prodding her entrance. She felt strange tingling then suddenly saw stars as God's finger found its way inside. The Messiah of magical girls did only exist when her duty called her to Earth. Her new body was woven of pure pulsating magic and every throb made Homura twitch inside. The sensation floated over the edge of searing pain and overwhelming ecstasy, more intense than anything she had ever felt.

The little piece of concept that was her former lover's finger pushed deeper with every loosening of her muscles. She didn't have the composure to ponder what kind of magic the Goddess used to completely fill her. Her whole body was shaking and Madoka gently held her as she fell to all fours. She heard her soul gem falling over and rolling down from the altar but she couldn't even care about it. Her skin almost sizzled, she gulped the stale air of the church in painful and ecstatic moans.

Madoka pulled out her finger in panic. Homura couldn't see her face but could easily imagine the pink brows furrow in worry. Just like back then, a few hours before her death. Her violent reactions must have scared her. In the years they shared they had always been there for each other so Homura had never hungered her so desperately.

She couldn't see what happened but a new sensation overwhelmed her. Her whole body felt sinking into a sea of tingling touches. But somehow it wasn't _real_. She realized that Madoka didn't let her soul gem roll too far. Now her soul was right where it belonged, in the hands of her God. Despite being the most knowledgeable magical girl she felt like a rookie who didn't know what soul gems really were. She wanted the Goddess to caress her true body instead of the mysterious crystal that fixed her soul to the world. She still couldn't speak so she offered herself through her posture and demanded Madoka in return.

 _"Homura-chan..."_

This time the Goddess said nothing but her name. Still, she could see the kind, comforting smile with her mind's eye. She needed this smile so much in this world full of nothing. Did she just imagine the guilt behind that faint smile...?

Then one hand slipped under her belly. Homura could only feel feeble tingling this way but she knew what would come next. Her knees and elbows gave in and only that thoughtful, supporting hand stopped her from collapsing when that finger slipped inside her again. No, this time there were two of them.

When she thought the sensation couldn't be more intense Madoka parted her fingers inside and even pressed another on her clit. Homura cried out as the pulses of the vibrating magic took over her entire body and filled her blindfolded eyes with images of Heaven pushing everything else out of her mind.

"Madoka, stay with me!", she begged. The Goddess hadn't come to take her away. Why should she have done so anyway? They had a different agreement. To follow it she had to grab the hand but her body protested against the move. The Devil had known how to tear the Goddess in two to keep a complete Madoka down on Earth. She, who knew the Devil's mistakes and vowed to avoid them couldn't even do this much. She clasped the precious hand with her thighs and inner muscles, desperately holding on to that piece of magic inside that still tried to push her back into ecstasy. But her mind resisted and her orgasmic moans faded to hard sobs, then died away.

She lay on the altar alone, limp like a rag-doll someone had just tossed there. Her long tresses flowed over the edge and down to the floor, melting into the darkness of the House of God.

A deafening yell tore apart her silent crying. In the next moment the sky caved in on her. Someone grabbed her shoulders and shook her like a hound shakes a half-dead rabbit. She hid her hands behind her back with a flaming red face, afraid of leaving splotches on her assailant's clothes.

"Mother of God! If I haven't seen Sayaka I'd think you've come from an asylum! Show me your soul gem, now!"

Homura's eyes darted about wildly in panic and shame at once. She glanced at the daughter of the reverend of Kazamino then the run-down floor boards from where she had last heard her gem roll. Her ribbon was tied in her hair right where she normally wore it and she could see everything in the morning light that flooded the ruins. Even this pale light was too much now, she had to cast down her eyes.

"Have you seen... Madoka?", was all she could squeeze out.

"The only thing I saw was a nutty chick who got the idea of touching herself right in my father's church... Jesus... Homura, what comes next? Gutting yourself with a katana?"

Kyouko lost the impulse that got her this far. It began to dawn on her what she had unwittingly witnessed. She dropped her eyes, face red like beet. She didn't want to see the nudity of the other girl's body and soul, her messed up hair and clothes, the revealing little bloodstains.

"You've been following me.", she heard Homura's toneless voice.

With great effort she raised her head and tried to keep her eyes on Homura. The ravenette was a heart-breaking sight. Kyouko trembled with the fear of losing her, right after losing Sayaka.

"You don't have to act like you care about me."

Those insane purple eyes almost burned a hole in her soul.

"You can really admit to yourself that Mami is the only reason I'm still in the team. She loves to collect every pathetic rookie. But you're wrong, the both of you! I've been meddling with your heads. I just deceived you to think that I'm the beginner you should patro..."

She was suddenly and shockingly silenced by a point blank gaze of red eyes. Kyouko's lips passionately squeezed against hers and her tongue slipped between Homura's teeth to meet hers. Homura pushed the other girl away in panic hurling herself down into the darkness of the floor. Then she glared at her in a crouch, eyes widened with shock.

"What's wrong with you? Are you out of your mind?"

Kyouko flashed a quick grin then knit her brows again. She wasn't in the mood for jokes.

"I've been thinking. Either this, or a big-ass slap on your face. But I've already tried that on Sayaka and it didn't help."

While she spoke her empty hands wrapped around the imaginary handle of a spear. She pondered whether Homura would attack her with her bare hands or turn on her heel and run away. She couldn't imagine her making up elaborate plans to fight in this situation. And even if she would she'd have to distance herself and that would take time. The redhead was hell-bent to put fair play aside and use her most vicious magic to stop her. No matter what the fragile archer planned, Kyouko was far stronger and more experienced in close combat. But she wasn't happy about the possibility, she was afraid of hurting Homura and completely turning her against herself.

To her relief the other girl did neither. The shock seemed to bring Homura back to her senses, her gaze was lucid again. She bashfully wiped her hands in a paper tissue then stood up to rearrange her clothes. She picked up her soul gem and held it up in front of her eyes. The gem hadn't changed at all, its darkness was still dotted with little purple specks.

Kyouko instinctively reached for the gem to cleanse it with Homura's share of the cubes from their last battle but the other girl jerked it away in horror. Her hands formed a cage around it so it was still visible while her entire body seemed to warp around her soul.

"Don't! I'm trapped."

Kyouko knew better than pushing her. She hoped that they could perform the ritual later when Homura calms down. So she just raised her brow. The thin girl finally looked up and transformed her gem to a ring before answering.

"I saw it in your eyes that you were making plans and gauging the odds. You begin to remind me of the Kyouko I knew.", she said with a faint smile. "I think it's time to tell you everything. I feel that you can understand it. You'll see the trap yourself by the end."

The remains of a stained glass window cast colorful patches of light on the closest, relatively intact bench. The redhead sat down and opened a pack of Pockies. She held it up and Homura picked one then sat next to her. She knew that it's a ritual for Kyouko, similar to sharing grief seeds in the old world.

"So what's this stupid mess about poking in my head and the Kyouko you knew?", the bigger girl asked, crunching the crispy sweets. Her tone was much friendlier than her words - it was very much like her. And she still wore a quizzical expression, disturbed by the unhinged girl's absolute trust in this absurd situation.

"You know that every one of us has strange abilities, even ones that are completely useless in battle. Mine's like that. You know about it, don't you?"

"Of course. I think I know where this is going. But it's nuts. You don't look like you're poking our memories to your liking. If you did you wouldn't whisper your tales in the shadows about a mysterious deity who saves us all when our gems are done for. You'd just snap your fingers and we'd listen wide-eyed. Believe me, I know what I'm saying."

"I don't want to be popular for what I'm not. But I want to show you who I am and where I've come from. It'll be easier to understand. Welcome to Akemi Homura's secret life!"

"I've already seen more of it than I wanted..."

Homura lowered her eyes in deep blush but she mustered her strength.

"First of all, I wouldn't like to make the same mistake as the Devil, if it's not late. Are you sure you weren't followed?"

"I know, I know, we're expendables... You don't want the evil boss to hear you."

"Believe me, it could go horribly wrong. I promised her not to tell anything in his presence he could use against us. But I can't take it anymore! I have to tell it to someone I can trust!"

"I haven't seen the little bastard since the train station. I guess he can't look us in the eye now."

"I don't think he's capable of feeling guilt. He just doesn't want to be discovered." Homura held out her ring finger and dowsed around then shook her head and flicked back her hair. "If you see him nail him to something heavy but _don't kill_ _him_. Now come with me. It's better if you see them for yourself."

She faced Kyouko, grabbed her hands and dragged her through the broken gate.

"I'll show you whom I really worry for!"

Kyouko had a hard time to follow her without running.

"I'll show you the people who helped me to keep this last bit of my sanity! Those who knew me the moment they saw me."

"Jesus, I hope you didn't try to dump your stories on them! You said yourself that we have to stay low!"

"God forbid! I had already been afraid of having planted those hazy fragments in them myself! You know...", she took a deep breath for the great confession, "I can't really control my power. I'm afraid I've accidentally messed up a lot of things..."

They had just passed Mami's apartment block and dashed along the bridge towards downtown. Kyouko froze and tugged Homura back like a yo-yo.

"You scare me.", she told her after a brief pause.

"You're telling me.", the other girl answered. Her manic gaze from behind her disheveled black bangs creeped out Kyouko. "This is why I want you to learn everything. Write it down and put it somewhere you can find it. I'm afraid this world can change any second."

"Come!", she went on, "I'll tell you everything you have to know on the way. We're going to the foot of Broken Hill. Sorry, it has a different name here. It's the lake by the Hill of Shrines. Yes, this is the first thing you have to know about me: I've come from another world. I have two worlds in my memories and I've already started to mix them up. This", she gestured around, "is one of the two. Here we hunt wraiths, embodiments of loose curses and radiated malice, psychological hazardous waste. They haunt people, eat their emotions and leave empty shells. Even we can end up as zombies if we aren't careful. We have to fight hard in return for the miracle the Incubators granted for us. You don't have to tell me your wish, I know what it was. This is how you got your power of illusions."

Kyouko gave her a baffled look but Homura didn't slow the slightest let alone stop, even for a moment.

"But you don't know mine. Problem is, even Kyubey doesn't. You've heard him say something's wrong with me."

"You altered his memories too...?", Kyouko asked, her jaw dropped.

"Intentionally? Never. I have no idea how to do so. His mind is completely different. But there's another catch. My wish doesn't make any sense in this universe. And my abilities have nothing to do with it. I've left my original powers in the other world, together with my magical weapon. I got the ones I have now because everything changed around me. The way you, the other you, used to know me, the way I used to know you all, they don't mean a thing here. You could say, I needed these powers to survive in this world, to blend in. To create my own existence as a magical girl."

Kyouko took her time to digest the things she had heard. Homura grinned and the other girl would have been happier not to see this grin.

"I owed you this one. You used to talk my and Madoka's head full of your crazy shit. You have a great part in that we are talking right here, right now. We've hopelessly messed up that world even though we meant no harm. We waged war against the Incubators for a good reason. There were no wraiths over there. We fought witches and joined their ranks in the end. We can at least die in peace now, thanks to Madoka."

"So this is your mysterious Madoka!", Kyouko snapped her jaws. "Don't you think that I haven't heard you back in the subway! Sayaka wasn't the first you cried for. And then in the church..." Her face flushed, she moved on quickly. "You kept babbling about this Madoka to yourself. So she's your Savior who comes for us! Back at the station I wanted to smack you real bad but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I can't even imagine how bad it is for you if it's worse than seeing your friend die!"

"Thank you, Kyouko... and... I'm truly sorry. It was tactless of me. I can understand if you think I'm crazy. You probably don't know what's wrong with me. I hoped I'd feel Madoka's presence when she comes for Sayaka. But I felt nothing. Sayaka was simply gone and we stayed there, in the empty night. But she used to be here, I do remember! She had to be here, we walked these same streets! I went back a hundred times and she was always there, just like the first time! But now... She's nowhere. She has never even existed. And t-the... I know how crazy it sounds... the voices... inside my head... t-they insist. I know them well. I'm sure you have yours too. Madoka gave her life to save us from them. But what if they're right? What if she never comes for us? I don't want to meet them again!"

The redhead put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry. I'm here to listen. You can tell everything to Dr Sakura."

"Go to hell, Kyouko!", Homura grunted but her lips curved into a faint smile.

"I don't plan to! I guess I'll just wait for your Madoka to come and lead me to Heaven. I tell you there's no other way for me to get in there!", the other girl flashed her trademark grin and her impressive canines.

The sudden murderous glance made even the fearless Kyouko recoil. It was time to restrain her sense of humor. She went on in a deeper, gloomier tone.

"No, Homura, I'm not mocking you. It feels fucking awful if no one understands you just because your beliefs don't meet the crowd's expectations. Been there, done that. But I think that any religion is okay if it doesn't encourage you to do harm to others. I guess yours is perfectly fine. So who do we meet there?"

"Madoka's parents."

"Wow, that's hot! Joseph and Mary in the flesh!"

"It's Tomohisa and Junko. You may find it funny but they're just as good as your saints. I'll never forget how they took me in and treated me like their own child just because we were in love with Madoka. Even though they had already had two children. Tatsuya is still with them, he's very young now. He knows what Madoka looks like and instantly recognized me too. Children of his age often sense and know things the adults can't explain but these things do exist. At least I hope so."

"I wish I could get along with my God this well..."

They had already left the last high-rise blocks and reached the park that surrounded the small lake. There was a playground near the shore where they saw a tall man in rectangular glasses wave. The thin girl started to run dragging Kyouko with her again. A kindergarten boy emerged from the sandbox, ran up to them and hugged Homura's legs.

"Hello, Homura, I'm glad that you've come to see us after all. Why, you've brought a good friend? Don't try to deny it, you're just like two Rapunzels!", the arriving woman greeted.

Kyouko took a long look at the Legend. A pretty young mother in perfect make-up, an amiable bespectacled father, a typically cute small child. A perfect family from the front page of a lifestyle magazine. The skinny little teenager had been through a tough battle with an army of wraiths, the death of a friend and a whole night of fleeing from her own ghosts. Kyouko looked herself over and concluded that she seemed just as worn as her fellow magical girl.

The mother must have sensed the contrast because after a brief introduction she produced a hairbrush from her reticule and started to undo the red ribbon in Homura's hair.

"You've been strolling outside this night again, haven't you? I hope you take good care of each other with your friends!"

She glanced at Kyouko who just stood next to Homura with downcast eyes. If this woman knew that they had just lost one of those friends... Kyouko twitched and shoved the painful thought to the back of her mind, trying to focus on the park and the rest of the family.

"We girls must always pay attention to our looks, Homura! We all have our highlights and we must learn how to emphasize them! You can't let this luxurious mane go to waste! This splendid hair and pretty face can make you really popular! Just think of your secret admirers!", Junko went on, trying to restore the glory of the girl's disheveled dusty tresses.

The redhead burst into laughter.

"Did I say something wrong...?", Junko glanced at her with feigned resent.

"I just imagined how those secret admirers would all be rebuked in no time..."

Kyouko had grown completely sure by now that only one person had any chance with the raven haired beauty: the mysterious Madoka. She felt a little sorry that she would probably never see this legendary person.

Tatsuya had run out of patience. He stood up and left his sand castle to his father, stood by his mother and silently pressured her to release Homura at once. Junko finally gave in and slipped the hair brush back into her reticule's depths.

"All right, you may go...", she said, "But don't think you can get away so easily!"

The girl sprang up, thanked her for the care or for letting her go and re-did her red ribbon. Then she started to fish in her pocket and gave a little animal figure to the child.

"Is that some bird?", Kyouko asked.

Homura theatrically glanced at her phone.

"May of 2011. I can tell you now. This small animal is Mei Long from the early Cretaceous era. It's not yet a bird but isn't too far from that. It's an early kind of Troodon. See, her feathers are just like those of a bird, she could almost try to fly with them. But she chose to run on the ground instead. Look, Takkun, she rushes up to the top of your castle and looks around! Look, she sits down, nests her snout beneath her wing and falls asleep. This is how the scientists found her, I'll tell you about it later. Your father may know a thing or two about her too."

Tomohisa gave a puzzled look while Kyouko sat down on the bench shaking her head. Then she took a small notebook and a ballpoint pen out of her backpack. The most old-fashioned tools seemed the best fit for the task in her mind. She opened the notebook at the first empty page and tested the pen on the paper.

"What are you doing?", the other girl raised her brow.

"I'll write down everything, just like you told me on the bridge. I don't know what's going on around you but I'll listen to you and take notes of everything. If you're right it can come handy..."

Homura nodded.

"I'll tell you more to note down later."

Then she followed Tatsuya to the sandbox.

A few minutes later Kyouko looked up from the notebook. It wasn't something she practiced too much, her hand was already tired of writing. She twitched as she caught Junko's gaze. She looked back in deep blush, instinctively covering the page full of her writing.

"Don't worry. Curiosity kills me but I haven't read your secrets. I just hope you can tell me if Homura is okay."

"Excuse me...?"

"You've known her longer than we do. Just look how immersed they are, playing like brother and sister. Even I can't believe that we first met her a mere two months ago. She was so familiar at the first sight but I have no idea why. She just popped up here at the playground and praised Tatsuya's drawing in the sand. She's been visiting us since then, she helps with shopping or just sits and smiles. Sometimes she tells us a few things but we still don't know much about her. I think her parents are alive but in another city. I worry for her. She's a kind and clever girl but she should take better care of herself. Sometimes I catch her with watery eyes but she never admits just smiles again. I wish I didn't see those smiles... Has she lost someone?"

Kyouko was in a pinch. She began to grasp why Homura had called her here and the possibility of this all being no more than a side effect of the other girl's magic terrified her. She recalled how the same knowledge had driven her father insane.

"Kaname-san, this is something I can't tell you... But it's true that we all have lost someone. I think this is what holds us together."

Only the last sentence of their conversation reached Homura's ears. But as she jerked up her head someone else caught her attention. She saw a young European woman leaning against a tree trunk. The girl stood up and walked over to her. She carefully observed the unknown woman on the way: she herself might have looked worn but this stranger had come straight from a battlefield. Her pants of uncertain color and torn grayish blue tank top were stained with blood, her arms and legs decorated with dirty bandages, her tresses she wore in a short brown ponytail sticky with dirt and dried blood. Her gaze tired, spiteful and curious at once.

"You are Akemi Homura-san."

It was more of a statement than a question. Homura answered with a brief nod and an inquiring look. The woman had perfectly normal, accented Japanese—and a very peculiar aura. She was probably in her twenties but she radiated familiar magic. This oddity stirred something in the girl's memory.

"You are not alone. I'd like to help you.", the stranger said.

Homura tried to answer but the woman was gone.

Kyouko sat down on the bench shaking her head. Then she took a small notebook and a ballpoint pen out of her backpack. The most old-fashioned tools seemed the best fit for the task in her mind. She opened the notebook at the first empty page and tested the pen on the paper.

"What are you doing?", the other girl raised her brow.

"I'll write down everything, just like you told me on the bridge. I don't know what's going on around you but I'll listen to you and take notes of everything. If you're right it can come handy..."

Homura nodded.

"I'll tell you more to note down later."

Then she followed Tatsuya to the sandbox. Tomohisa decided to ignore the stories he should know according to the girl. He turned to her new friend instead to ask a few questions.

"Sakura-san...?"

Kyouko looked up from the notebook.

"I know it might sound strange... But you may have known her longer than we do. Is everything all right with Homura?"

"Excuse me...?" Normally she'd have given a cruder reply but now she tried to do her best to play the well-mannered girl. "Is something wrong with her? I wouldn't be surprised."

"Not at all!", he protested, "Thing is, she's almost too perfect. It's like she had known us before we met and gets along with Tatsuya like she was our own child. But the strangest thing is how familiar she was to me and Junko at the very first look. You know, when we married we'd have liked to have a baby girl. Now she would be about Homura's age. She's like she's aware of it and tries to take her role."

"That's enough! Look, I may not understand Homura but I know her well enough to be sure that she's not an impostor. She doesn't want to abuse your trust! Of course I may be her accomplice... But if you think so you don't have to talk to me!"

She buried her notebook in her backpack and tried to stand up but the young father stopped her.

"For goodness' sake, no! I'm good enough at judging characters to know. But I worry for her. I see her sad too often and she always says goodbye like we met her for the last time. I know it sounds stupid but I'm afraid that one day she might just grow wings and fly away for good...", Tomohisa scratched his nape with an embarrassed smile. "But really, I'm afraid that she's involved in something dangerous. So many children disappear in her age. I wouldn't like her to be one of them."

The redhead shuddered. The young father stumbled into the truth like a bunch of carefully placed thumbtacks. Magical girls risked their lives every day and when they served their purpose as protectors of humanity they vanished without a trace. And Homura's wings of corruption she glided on over battlefields and swooped down from the top of skyscrapers creeped out even Kyouko. They looked like tears in the fabric of reality with a clear view into the void. For some reason those wings looked to hurt their owner, to sap her very life. And in a way they really did, just like every magic.

 _"You owe me a dinner for this one!"_ , she transmitted. She suspected that those thumbtacks were placed in Tomohisa's way by Homura herself.

"But what that danger could be?", she warily asked.

"I've never seen her high or anything but are you sure she doesn't take pills or stamps or something alike? I may be able to help her. You wouldn't believe what I had got into before I met Junko. But I could put an end to that past and Homura can do it too. The sooner the better."

"I don't know about her taking anything like that. I think she's just being herself.", Kyouko answered with a forced laugh.

A little away Junko bent down and said something to Homura. The girl took the little boy's hand and they all gathered on the bench, next to Kyouko.

"I have an idea.", the mother said, "What if you two came over? You look spent, you could gather yourselves at our place and you could take care of Takkun while we'd visit a friend further in the city. Plus you could have a rest during his afternoon nap, in a proper house."

"We'll be back for dinner!", the father winked at Homura.

"But... Tomohisa-san, Junko-san... I really wouldn't like to be a nuisance... And we have our places to sleep...", she weakly protested.

"Homura, we would like to go out a little, meet two old friends of ours, like adults do. They have no children so I don't think Takkun would find their company entertaining. But you get along well and your friend is here too. Or, if you like it better, we have a task for you."

"Man, at this rate I'll really believe that this is your family! They're off their rockers. Okay, they think they know you. But they saw me for the fucking first time! Do you get it? I'm a complete stranger! Yet they let me into this fine house and just nick off! How do you think the brat could stop me if I began to loot it?"

Kyouko had just passed the door handle of the Kaname household's bathroom to her friend with a grin. The parents hadn't have a hard time to persuade them. One part of Homura tried to resist but the other was grateful for the invitation and their trust. Kyouko had similarly ambivalent feelings. She felt bad for exploiting this unusually hospitable couple and worried that she'd might cause problems to the ravenette but she'd have never skipped such a prime opportunity for a whole afternoon of freeloading.

"He couldn't but I'd wring your neck in that very moment!", the thin girl answered closing the bathroom door from the inside.

When she re-appeared in the blue jeans and black t-shirt Junko had left her her hair shone again like the feathers of a crow. She found Kyouko in the kitchen with Takkun sitting on her lap. They were cramming sandwiches in unison. The redhead was ready for Homura's tantrum (though their host's cheese and home grown vegetables were totally worth it) but the black haired beauty plunged into the fridge and looked over the food supply instead. Then she grabbed a pack of chicken meat and dipped the pieces in a mixture of soy sauce, ginger and garlic. She grabbed the ingredients without even looking, followed by Kyouko's knowing stare.

"Even Tomohisa-san will approve!", she remarked with a lopsided smile when she finished preparing the marinade. "You like Tatsuta-age, don't you, Takkun?"

She tried to prove something without doubt and it wasn't her cooking prowess.

The child loudly agreed and Kyouko shook her head in disbelief. Then Homura made another sandwich for herself.

"How can the master chef eat fast food?", Kyouko grinned when the other girl sat next to them.

"You can't think that such meals are done in a few minutes. It will be the dinner for the Kanames' return. I'll leave it in the marinade while we eat and I tell a story to Takkun."

She smiled at Tatsuya in her usual low-key manner but her glance at Kyouko suggested that it would be much more than a bedtime story.

They entered the living room together. The little boy usually slept in his own room but this was a special occasion. As they stepped in, Homura typed something on the control panel by the door and the windows went dark. Kyouko let out a respectful whistle.

A beam of light pierced through the darkness. The ravenette's sleep-deprived pale face shone like the Moon with dark circles around her eyes for craters.

"Now I'll tell you a story about the lizard girl and the Goddess."

Tatsuya giggled and Kyouko shook her head again. She knew Homura as a silent and modest girl yet sometimes that silent girl found surprisingly dramatic ways to convey her message. This seemed to be one of those moments. Fortunately the child didn't take her too seriously, it was pure amusement for him, just like the thrill of a dark forest evening in a tent.

"What kind of lizard was she? Was she a dinosaur?"

Homura flashed a cunning little half-smile.

"No, it's a more ancient story. I could say she was a Synapsid. But no one really knows. Soon enough I'll tell you why!"

Kyouko felt that it would be the right time to bury her face in her palms. But it would have raised difficulties in observing Homura and she was perfectly sure that the ravenette would let out particularly interesting things soon.

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful garden full of flowers. In this garden lived a little black lizard. She spent the afternoons sunbathing on a log and waiting for someone to come by the path through the garden. One day, a Goddess came and spotted the lizard. And because she was so kind and honest she could trust even a reptile like her. From that time on she came every day and talked with the lizard girl or just held her in the palm of her hand and adorned her neck with a ribbon."

Homura's voice turned serious.

"But the lizard wasn't alone in the garden. In the forest, by the road, there lived a Thrinaxodon."

"What kind of animal was that?", the child asked.

"He was a bit like a weasel but he wasn't yet a mammal. He had fur and liked to dig tunnels and steal eggs. He thought that a lowly lizard didn't deserve the attention of the Goddess nor the ribbon around her neck. He believed that if he kidnapped and married the Goddess every fruit in the garden would belong to him and all the birds would respect him and bring their eggs to his burrow. One day he stopped by the path to lure her in his home and lock her up. But the Goddess just smiled at him and went to the log like she always did."

"What was the Goddess called?", Tatsuya asked. "She must have had a name!"

"Of course she had!", Homura answered turning the flashlight's beam at her face again. "But no one should call that name. It would be a disaster if the Thrinaxodon heard it! But listen what she said when she arrived! She said:"

"I've just met a Thrinaxodon. He asked if Heaven is a happy place. But I'm afraid I can't really tell."

Kyouko got what Homura implied and anxiously looked around. But no matter how hard her magically augmented eyes pierced the darkness she could see no trace of the little white Thrinaxodon. So she relaxed, waiting for the story to unfold.

"What is happiness?", the little lizard asked as she nested in the Goddess' palm.

"Perhaps the May sunlight."

"It was what incubated my egg.", the lizard answered.

"Maybe a warm, loving family."

"The other eggs were already empty."

"If you can call someone's name."

"If someone calls your name."

"When someone cares for you."

"'What is Heaven like? Do you have a family? Do they care for you?', the lizard girl asked but she saw in horror that the Thrinaxodon sneaked through the bushes and crouched behind the Goddess' back, snarling and ready to catch her by force if his wits hadn't been enough. The lizard girl grabbed two of the Goddess' fingers in panic and tore her in half. Then she took one half, tied her up with her ribbon and hid her in her cupboard. And she would never dare to let her go again because she was afraid of the other half getting angry at her and leave the garden for good together with the first half."

Tatsuya stared at her, eyes wide, stiff in shock. Even Kyouko knit her brows.

"Listen, kiddo! I'll hold this crazy chick and you smack her in the head with that pillow, okay? She can't tell tales like this to a four-year-old!"

"Daddy said you must never hurt girls!", Tatsuya objected. But then his shock gave way to a laugh when he saw Kyouko grab Homura's neck with one arm and grin from behind her back.

 _"And you get the second from me if you stop here! But for heaven's sake tell it in a way he can digest..."_ , the redhead messaged to her skinny friend.

"It doesn't end here.", Homura assured aloud.

"Because the garden was small but the world huge. The empty eggshells weren't for nothing in the nest where the lizard girl hatched. One of the elder sisters came to the garden and decided to visit her sibling. She came with one of her friends, the strong and cunning _red_ Inostrancevia."

She carefully accented the epithet and gladly saw that the other girl got the message even though she had no idea what kind of animal Homura was talking about. But the boy was just as clueless.

"Was it like a fox?", he guessed.

"It was much larger, especially its teeth. But it wore a similar red fur, only striped. And sometimes it got really angry. Then it looked pretty much like a saber-toothed tiger."

Tatsuya was spellbound by the colorful image his mind painted of this new creature. It must have been the king of animals in its time, he thought, and he wasn't far from truth.

"This Inostrancevia knew what the little lizard was hiding in her cupboard. She gave a big bag to her friend to take it with her when she visits her sister. 'Just large enough for one half of a Goddess!', the elder sister thought."

"But she had never met her sister before. What would she do if she proved to be a savage beast? She fearfully knocked on the little door of the little house."

"But she was older! She had to be bigger! Why was she afraid?", Tatsuya interrupted.

"It's true that she was much more older than earlier she hatched. But the older is not always stronger! And she wasn't even bigger at all. They were as like as the two eggs they had hatched from."

It didn't make much sense. Tatsuya overlooked the paradox but Kyouko pricked her ears like a normal Gorgonopsid never did. She had grown used to picking up Homura's random remarks and now she had a lot to choose from. She had already realized that she knew most characters in the story and she began to enjoy the game.

Luckily she didn't have to push the storyteller to go on.

"But it seemed she didn't have to be afraid. Her sister was happy to see her and they had tea together. The other lizard girl didn't get anxious until she stepped to her cupboard."

"'Something stirred in there.', the elder sister lied. 'It may be a Hadrocodium gnawing at your belongings. I can help you catch it!' Then she opened the cupboard and untied the bag halfway to steal the hidden half of the Goddess. She was very surprised when the other half jumped out of the bag and fell on the kidnapped half's neck. The younger lizard was scared but the Goddess wasn't angry at her but took her in her palm again and gave back her ribbon. She thanked the elder sister too for helping her to find her other half. She called her over to her place and gave her a whistle. 'Blow this whistle when in trouble and I'll come to help you.' Then she and her lizard girl followed their visitors out of the garden and waved until they disappeared at the horizon."

"But how did she get in the bag?", Tatsuya asked, eyes wide with curiosity.

"It was the Inostrancevia's doing. She saw what the lizard girl had done and the whole rescue mission was her plan. She had a best friend, a Tiktaalik in the creek. She was half fish so when the half of the Goddess came to drink she crept upon her underwater then jumped over her so the Inostrancevia could shove the surprised half Goddess into the bag. Then they told her that they were to take her to her other half so the half Goddess didn't move half of a finger and didn't give half a squeak until the bag was opened. And because she was so light even the elder sister couldn't notice anything."

This part of the story was much less unsettling and Takkun's lids grew heavier by the minute.

"It was a nice story. The dirty lady liked it too. Goodnight, Homura-nee-chan!", the boy said waving at an empty armchair.

The two girls glanced around in unison but they couldn't see anyone else in the room. They dashed into the kitchen and dowsed around with their soul gems. When they finally lowered the gems they both sensed a flash in the corner of their eyes. They raised their souls at once again and turned around back-to-back but everything was just as empty as before.

"Can we be tired enough to hallucinate the same thing at once?", Kyouko pondered.

"I don't know. I don't think so."

Homura placed her gem on the table and returned to her cooking, eyes still open to any sign of wraiths. She sprinkled the marinated chicken slices with some white powder and submerged them in boiling oil.

"By the traditions I should have put ground katakuri tubers on the meat.", she said. "But most people use simple potato starch today. No matter how much of a gourmet Tomohisa-san is he's too environmentally aware to chop up endangered wild flowers for dinner."

"Isn't it you who fries this chicken now?"

"I've learned everything I know from him. Look, they begin to look like floating autumn leaves on the Tatsuta river. It means they'll be ready soon."

But she could talk to Kyouko as much as she wanted. The red haired girl had already picked a piece out of the boiling oil with her chopsticks and begin to chew.

"This is... hot... stuff!", she declared panting through a mouthful of hot meat.

"Of course. It is a _good dinosaur_.", Homura said.

"Oh. So there _is_ a sequel! I can't wait."

"This is why we came here. Pity that our gems are so bad at indicating Thrinaxodons. Or dirty ladies. I'm afraid that Takkun has really seen something."

"Homura, I'm really not sure anymore. Is this Tri... something really such a jerk?"

"You know, sometimes he may even help us. But it's never an act of kindness. That's unknown to him. But there are other enemies too, ones that you would never think of. Even wraiths can surprise us. There's a reason behind the rule that you must never let go of your weapon, let alone your soul gem. My sister said bizarre things about them."

Kyouko nodded. Her fellow magical girl had just confirmed her ideas about the casting of the story.

"So the lizard went home.", Homura continued. "At least she tried. But her house was already occupied by a gang of naked mole rats. They were so cunning that they always knew where she tried to sneak in and stopped her at any door or window."

Tatsuya chose this moment to walk in.

"Shouldn't you be sleepin', kiddo?", Kyouko grunted. The child looked fearfully at her then fixed his eyes on Homura.

"You left Mei out of your story so she can't sleep now.", he asserted.

Homura gave him a curious look then she noticed the small black animal at his feet. Her eyes widened but she held out her hand to the bird-like creature. Fragments of chaotic and horrible memories flooded her mind. These embodiments of subconscious magic had only existed in another world and her ones could have been the last of them before everything changed. If she had erased some of her own memories to protect her sanity then these minutes had been the first to go.

Kyouko showed a strange mix of curiosity and fright as the ancient creature sniffed the slender hand then jumped up to the girl's forearm, balancing with its wings and long bony tail.

"Mei... So you have a name now.", Homura whispered in awe, bending her arm to bring the animal closer. It answered with a soft chatter and touched its snout against Homura's nose.

Tatsuya clapped in amazement but the redhead rooted to the ground.

"You're trembling.", Homura stated. Kyouko didn't even object.

"You may have seen strange things yourself when you felt really bad.", Homura continued. "Things that were familiar in an uncanny way. Believe me, I know myself, it could be much, much worse."

"But we all can see this one!", Kyouko snapped. "Look, you have to get out of here, now!"

"Mei, make sure that Takkun's safe!", Homura instructed the animal then she grabbed the other girl's arm and bolted through the back door. "Don't worry about him, that raptor is me!"

It was a serene sunny afternoon in a carefully tended back garden of a peaceful Mitakihara house but they felt in another dark night.

"Your visions aren't going to come true, Madoka saved you from them. But I brought mine with me from another world. I have already been _on the other side_."

"Your gem... It didn't get even worse, did it? You look scary."

Instead of reassuring Homura raised her begging eyes on Kyouko.

"Help me! I have a plan but I'm too weak by myself. Madoka entrusted me with betraying her. I should have already done it but I was too afraid. I still don't know this world well enough. But now I know that I don't have much time left. Listen! My army is big but there's no 'dirty lady' in it. Someone must be after me."

"Why, could you be Judas the most faithful disciple? Just like my father said."

"No matter how much the others loved their master they were too weak.", she explained when she saw the ravenette's confused look. "Jesus had a plan but he needed to die and rise again. Someone had to betray him so he could be arrested and executed. Judas was the only one who could overcome his attachment and carry out Jesus' wish."

"Did Judas question his own sanity? Because I do! Kyouko, I can overwrite anyone's memories, including myself! If I didn't have this gift I'd remember things that would render me a vegetable! How could I know that it's not some forged memory that I really have to die to tear my God in two?"

"Holy crap, what do you expect from me? Should I get you to kill yourself? How would you think the kid feel if just evaporated and never came again? Or his folks! His father said something at the playground. He said he was afraid of you disappearing on them like so many of our age. Homura, they aren't stupid! They know that something is wrong with you, they know that you're involved in something and they're worried for you!"

"That's it. I said I'm in a trap.", the other girl sighed with her head bowed, hiding behind her dark bangs. Kyouko felt like beating or kissing some sense in her like earlier but now she was full of doubts.

"And this is just one half of the trap. The other half is a Catch-22. We can't just be killed. Our magic starts to repair our bodies in an instant which makes our soul gems darken. And you know what happens when your gem turns black. If I try to kill myself to avoid madness it'll just drive me insane quicker. The darkness of the gem is a nasty drug. I know one that works like that. It grabs your brain and brings your gem down. Of course you're worried about me. I'm scared too. Curtly, Mami's right. Step by step, I'm going crazy."

She held up her gem in her palm. Its blackness covered her hand in a dark shadow like its blackness sucked in the surrounding light.

"On the other hand, if you shatter a magical girl's soul gem there'll be nothing left to bind her to this world. It's over for her. But I don't know if Madoka can come for those who don't reach complete darkness. You know, we forgot about this detail when we blew the whistle and thought it out with my sister. I thought I was so savvy, prepared for anything and everything, that I'd avoid her every mistake. I even left Madoka's ribbon behind knowing how dangerous it is. The one I'm wearing is a fake. And I hadn't even mentioned her name until this morning, not even to you. But I spent my nights exerting my brain over her wish, I took it apart and thought it over, word by word, and I can't see any other solution! Of course I'm crazy! There is no other way to meet Madoka! But I'm really scared that I'll do something terrible this way. Kyouko, helping me kill myself just isn't enough. I ask you much more. I want you to stay with me, to beat it in my head that I _absolutely must not lock her in my cupboard!_ Shake me conscious even in my last moment, smack me and shout at me that I have to take her _power_ not her _freedom!_ "

"You want a slap in the face?", Kyouko grunted and granted her wish. Homura stared at her with wide, red-rimmed eyes, holding her hand against her burning cheek. But the redhead hadn't finished yet.

"Being a magical girl and having to fight is one thing. The two of us can still protect this city, I could even do it alone! But you can't let down the kid and his parents! I bet they'll adopt you if you stay here but you're just trying to vanish on them... You wouldn't betray Madoka... You'd betray them! I don't even know what I should tell Mami so she won't strangle you on the spot!"

"They can't adopt me, the other they have already tried it. But if I succeed I won't be the only one here for them, I'll get Madoka back! I'll make sure that they'll remember her."

Her dreamy smile ran shivers down Kyouko's spine.

"Look, Homura. You know our chances. Sooner or later we all meet our last wraith. Probably sooner. Don't rush it. I promise I'll be there when your time comes. Just put your gem down here, I've brought your share of the cubes. And when your head is clear and you still want to go... We'll see."

She watched tensely as the other girl hesitantly summoned her soul gem.

"You're right. That 'last wraith' is what I really can't afford. While I'm here I'm a ticking bomb. You don't even know-"

Tatsuya's excited cheer interrupted her hoarse speech.

"Homura-nee-chan, look here! Mei has caught a kitty under the table!"

Kyouko turned on her heels and bared her fangs in the child's face.

"Didn't I tell you, brat, to go to sleep? Big girls have important-"

This was the moment when she noticed Homura's black feathered familiar. The ghostly little predator dragged the heavier Incubator with great determination. Tiny beads of blood oozed from where its little curved teeth pricked the alien's skin. It was an impressive sight, like a wild duck retrieving a hound.

 _"You shouldn't have dragged me here like this, Akemi Homura. We completely support your experiment."_

Of course, his smile didn't change a bit.

"So you really are the freaky bystander Homura called you. But if you came to push her deeper in her madness I swear I kill you!"

 _"I'm just observing the consequences of her choice. Akemi Homura has set up a remarkable hypothesis. It was incorrect of me to label her stories as unfounded superstition. They were old magical girl lore, after all. But she started to show signs that match our predictions about soul gems' development, signs we had never been able to observe before. It's true that she plays an important role in the cycle of emotional energy as a magical girl, but, as you correctly pointed out, you and Mami can adequately handle your territory. Moreover, I can make new contracts anytime to help you out. So Akemi Homura is more useful in shedding new light on the background of the whole process. Her sacrifice can fundamentally change our energy collection methods."_

"Kyouko, I've been an idiot. I shouldn't have talked at all, not even in his absence."

"No, Homura. You are an idiot if you think you can handle it alone.", Kyouko grunted. She took the alien from the ravenette's familiar and held him up in disgust.

"So watching a girl who contracted with you race to her own destruction is just an experiment to you.", she snarled at him in a much less friendly manner than she had at Tatsuya. "You know what? That girl may be crazy. She may be paranoid. But she's bloody right in one thing: you're our fucking enemy!"

Her moves were impossible to follow. But whatever she did turned Kyubey's body into a bundle of dirty rags nailed to the ground by the tip of her spear within a tenth of a second.

Tatsuya looked the girls and himself up and down with widened eyes. They were all covered in tiny crimson specks of the furry creature's blood. Mei sniffed the body then turned away in disgust and scurried back to the child's feet.

"Congratulations, Kyouko!", Homura grunted. "Didn't I tell you not to kill him? Now we have absolutely no idea where he's eavesdropping..."

Then she turned to the boy and put her comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Takkun, Kyubey can't be hurt like this because he's a magical creature. This thing is just a puppet. The real Kyubey is still watching somewhere around here. We just don't know where. Let's find him!"

For a few seconds she feigned musing on her new quest then she leapt to the jessamine shrub by the fence.

"May he be hiding here?", she chuckled partly covering her mouth with one hand and poking in the bushes with the other. "Me and my many sisters, tiny eggs in a nest, tumbling around and around ~ A little loop this way, a little twist that way ~ Eggshells are nice rounded attractors, we're all at the same place now ~ My secret is blown ~ just like my sister's ~ But I'll catch you now! Screw in the gem, gem in the glass! When ~ I ~ break ~ the ~ shell ~ I ~ will ~ be ~ the ~ de ~ vil... Or not?"

Her fellow magical girl followed with her spear trained on the bushes, still dangling Kyubey's body on its tip.

Tatsuya didn't understand a thing except that something was very-very wrong. He backed off in fear flicking his eyes between Kyouko who seemed to imitate a shrike with the impaled corpse and the madly chirping Homura.

"Gotcha!", the raven haired girl cheered and dragged something unexpectedly big out of the shrubs. And she had helpers. Many little porcelain hands pushed the intruder forward, just to vanish among the leaves with a choir of restrained giggles.

They saw a strangely familiar young European woman. They didn't know how she got there. For what they knew she could have even teleported because her aura radiated unmistakable magic.

"Are you spying for Kyubey?" - Homura pointed a finger at the woman's chest, staring in her eyes from a good four inches lower. Kyouko shook the corpse off her spear and eyed the interloper in a similar manner and angle.

"Wait a minute. Is this Kyubey the alien your friend just stabbed?" The question included a second one. What did Homura know about the aliens?

"Of course, you must belong to another Incubator!", the ravenette slapped her forehead. "So I'm being watched by more of them. No problem, even this one can be back in any moment."

She made a quarter-turn, raised her hands to her mouth and began to shout.

"You bastards have finally realized how important I am?"

Then she turned back to the woman training her bow at her, drawn and loaded with an eagerly sparkling magical bolt.

"I've never seen you before. Why are you here? This is Kaname-san's garden!"

Then she hissed in pain as the little raptor bit her calf. She jerked her head back and down in surprise to face Tatsuya and Mei, her bow evaporating from her hand.

"Stop fighting!", the boy yelled at her. Homura shook her head and looked back at the intruder with lucid eyes.

"At last!", the woman sighed then she grabbed and shook the girl's hand. "I know, you are Akemi Homura. I'm Lara Croft and I've come to warn you. This is no one's garden because it doesn't exist. Everything you see", she swept the horizon with her finger, "is a dream. It probably isn't even the first one they forced on you. They're monitoring you and I think they're looking for this Kaname Madoka."

The ravenette gave her a dark look.

"Are you sure?"

Everyone else nodded their heads. Homura looked around and she didn't need their confirmation anymore. Kyouko's and Tatsuya's grotesque grins, pointy teeth, blue-orange eyes and needle spears all proved Lara's words. They were mere actors in a way too familiar play.

"They mustn't find her. I have to get out of here. Where do they keep my gem? Where's the tower? Why can't anyone see it?"

"Your gem is hidden in an Incubator's back. There's no tower and even if there was no one knew about it. We're on a cursed island in the middle of Dragon Triangle which hasn't been found, not even by those dumb satellites up there."

The girl looked back through pinpoint pupils in her wide eyes.

"What the hell am I doing in Dragon Triangle? It wasn't in the plan!"

Lara _felt_ how the world faded before Homura, she could even see the little sparks dancing at the edge of her field of vision. Her head spun as she saw the girl sway dizzily. She waited for her to collect herself. This was the first time she could see her with complete clarity so she took her time to inspect her. With her delicate features and almond shaped eyes the mysterious raptor girl gave the impression of a charming Japanese teenager and though she was indeed small and thin she looked healthier than Lara remembered. Her most prominent traits were the shiny black hair that reached beyond her waist and those appalling purple irises.

"Yonbey said something about you meddling with his experiments. I think I'm one of these. The other must be a girl from the 3rd century called Himiko. I have business with her and I think you can help me when you are yourself again. You saved my life a few hours ago when you appeared in your... raptor form and cleansed my gem with yours."

Homura anxiously shook her head, fixing her strange lavender eyes on Lara.

"Beware of the me that can do things like that! I don't remember having such abilities. Who knows what I've become?"

"At first I didn't want to interfere.", Lara admitted. "But I had to think it over. I want to get you out of here. But first I'd like to know where you left your body."

"It's really nice of you. I'll try to keep it in mind if I can. I don't know what kind of rules I obey out there."

"The enemy of my enemy may not be my friend. But she's definitely the enemy of my enemy. I hope we can be allies in the future. So you don't remember where your body is?"

"No. And I don't know what I'll turn into if I get out of here. Don't trust me! I may be very dangerous out there."

"More dangerous than Himiko? She keeps my crew hostage on this cursed island with her goddamn storms. She controls the island's weather as she pleases."

"I don't know anything about Himiko, Miss Croft. I didn't even know that we can live to grow up, even your existence is a surprise to me. How could one of us from the ancient times still be around? If I were you I'd fear her, she has seen everything, she must be tough and cunning and full of surprises. But still, I'm probably even more dangerous. You'd really better leave me here, sealed from the outside world. And no matter what happens, you absolutely must not call Madoka here. Do you understand?"

Lara shook her head.

"I don't know anything about this Madoka. But the aliens will surely find a way to call her here. If you stay here they are going to find her, you can count on it."

She wanted to tell more but she felt a strong hit and found herself in the outside world. Yonbey sat by her feet turning his back at her and wagging his tail. Lara slipped back into the gray world and floated between her and the alien's body. She glanced around for enemies and when she saw none she threw herself upon the animal. She plunged through the trapdoor on his back and grabbed the slightly ragged floating gem to tear it out.


	6. Confession Dial

**6\. Confession Dial**

 _v0._ _9_

It was a sudden idea and it didn't work. As she tried to yank the gem out of its place it grabbed her too and dragged her into the chaos inside. The world she had visited was gone and no new world had come to take its place. Buildings and trees zipped through her incorporeal form, the terrain wildly tilted and flickered under her feet. She manifested at a dozen places every second. It didn't take too long to lose her balance and fall. It was a familiar feeling, similar to bouncing down a cliff-side, lower and lower, every new environment a new impact. Then she crashed through the surface and landed in a bunker.

She hit the concrete with a violent gasp. Reality fell apart before her eyes, thin threads ran every which way just to reunite then part again. They twisted together and bounced around, dragging other threads along. Even the surrounding walls dissolved to strings. Some remote force tugged new bundles in her way and she just fell through them. Every time she smashed through a cluster thousands of new images flashed in her visual cortex, too fast to get a grasp on even a single one of them. Then the lights faded away and the environment stabilized. The force had apparently found what it had been looking for.

The bunker was gone. The sizes matched but the bare concrete burrow gave way to a small flat or hotel room. But it still lacked windows, the new chapter of the dream seemed to take place underground.

"Homura, I see an unauthorized person in your room. Move away from the door, the assigned staff is escorting you two to separate test rooms for interrogation. You'll have to explain the method and purpose of the intrusion. Don't even think about escaping. The entrance of the facility is out of your soul gem's range. Security has been reinforced since your last attempt."

A vexingly monotonous and tangibly hostile voice murmured from the walls, just about as friendly as Yonbey's smile. The little Japanese girl stood with her back to Lara and listened the speaker's commands without as much as a wince. But as soon as it fell silent she turned on her heel. With a quick jump she grabbed a vase from the chest of drawers by the wall, emptied it to the floor and hurled it right into the middle of the painting on the wall. There was something strangely awkward in her moves, like she felt uncomfortable in her own body. Then she waved to Lara behind her back to take cover in an alcove that was perfectly visible from the painting but hidden from any other direction, with the most awkward of her moves because her arm ended a little past her elbow.

Lara knit her brows at her sorry state but silently obeyed. A lot could have changed when she had been drawn into this new dream. Could this be the "regression and erosion" the Incubators' accidentally intercepted message mentioned? Anyway, the repulsive spokesman of this new world didn't leave Homura's deed without a comment.

"Your behavior hints that your Glazadrine dose has to be revised. Move to the opposite wall. The security squad is arriving soon to escort you to the examination room. As well as the unauthorized person. Yes, you, foreign agent. We must know how you could get into the facility. Despite your successful infiltration you're perfectly visible for the cameras now. I repeat, move to the opposite wall. Homura in one corner and you in the other. Don't try to resist the security squad, a policy of shoot to kill has been in effect since the escape attempt."

Homura gave a sigh and finally turned back to Lara.

"I hoped I can hide you if I don't look at you but it didn't work. They may have even installed a few more cameras. If they aren't just bluffing, that is."

The raptor girl was horribly casual about this new dream. Just the way the inhabitants of a war zone get used to shooting and bombing, danger and loss, she had grown used to torture and mutilation and drugs. She didn't even look surprised, like she had seen everything. Just like Himiko.

But Lara was terrified when she realized that she wasn't invisible anymore. The dream world had finally recognized and targeted her. It was waiting eagerly for her to spill something she'd keep for herself in the outside world. She had played with fire for too long, it was high time to act.

At least Homura remembered her and knew that they weren't in the real world. It probably helped her hold on. But no matter how much the whole machinery creaked from the gravel between the cogs the aliens had successfully propped up an apt scene for her interrogation.

By the time of the outside world it couldn't take much longer for them to succeed. Lara's only option was to be even faster. She needed one single strike but what would the tortured, jaded Homura have to withstand before her weapon hits? She wanted to warn the girl before she'd just disappear from her world.

"Akemi-san, listen! We don't have time to worry now. I'll get you out of here. I have no idea how long it'll take as the outside time is much slower than yours. But hold on, don't tell anything to anyone. Not that you don't already know this much. Once you're outside we'll come up with something, anything."

Then she quit the dream. More precisely she tried to - but nothing happened. She stayed in the underground chamber with her hostess while the speaker commented her attempt with poorly concealed malice.

"Madam, didn't you understand what I've told you? We have Homura's soul gem. If you try to leave the facility with her she'll drop dead before you reach the exit. It's just reasonable precaution in case of an invaluable test subject. I'm sure you'll acknowledge the importance of our research once we can have a brief talk. So please move to the corner away from Homura. While waiting you may help yourself with soft drinks from the fridge. _Our_ organization provides them free of charge."

Lara didn't even bother to react, she turned to the girl instead.

"It means that you can't conjure up your bow, right?"

Homura nodded.

"What a pity. I'd have liked to ask you to kill me."

"If you really want to help then please help me block the door!", the girl answered. "This room is quite secure. The only entrance is the airlock, there's no other way to get in here."

She stepped next to Lara and started to tug the chest of drawers awkwardly towards the door with her one hand.

"We'll need the bed too. And the fridge."

Lara helped and listened. She didn't have to wait too long for the answer, though it didn't come in human language. Quiet hissing began somewhere deep in the walls and she saw the invisible enemy in her mind's eye as it seeped closer and closer. Then she imagined smelling it. Suddenly, the thought of letting her worries go and lying down on the bed at the airlock gate felt appealing. It was exactly what she was looking for, after all: a way out of the dream. It was so surprising to see the little Japanese girl running up and down, busting the grates on the walls and stuffing pillows into the air ducts.

As Homura finished with the ventilation system she dashed back to Lara and frantically shook her shoulders.

"Don't go that way! That exit must be their doing, you can never know where it takes you!"

Exit. Lara felt that something was wrong. She felt the grip of a gun in her palm but her hands were empty. Scent of gunpowder mingled with the taste of her own blood in her mouth. She could almost see an army of samurai wraiths charging from every direction but they could have only come through the closed airlock in the middle of the opposite wall. The only exit. And the only entrance. There was nobody else in the room, but they expected a security squad enter through that very door. They would come to drag the two of them away, for questioning or dissection. Would she see them as wraiths too?

It was her turn to shake herself. No matter how calm Homura tried to behave she saw real worry in the Japanese girl's lavender eyes. She had every reason to worry, Lara thought. Those pillows would hardly stop the gas and even if they would they'd stop air too and slowly but steadily suffocate them inside.

She searched through her clothes once more. The result wasn't surprising: she was completely unarmed. But at least the physical movement stirred her up. She glanced around wide awake and picked up the flowery branch that Homura had dropped to the floor. She tore off one of her bandages and knotted the browned piece of cloth to the branch. It was the lousiest weapon she had ever had but this time she trusted her magic. A few color pencils made acceptable bases for the bolts that found their way into the air ducts one by one. She pocketed the rest.

No one could track the traces of her projectiles from behind the cameras. A series of small explosions shook the room then thin smoke billowed from where the pillows had been. Homura just waited for the consequences, sitting on the floor with her eyes closed. She didn't have to wait for too long.

"Homura! We're sensing serious damage in the ventilation system of your room. Stand away from the door for your own safety and let the designated staff escort you to the examination room. While they measure the Glazadrine level in your system I'll work out a series of tests to examine your abilities you've been hiding so far."

Another pathetic attempt, Lara noted. She suspected that the unnerving voice belonged to Yonbey, a surprisingly stupid delegate of an incomprehensibly advanced civilization. But she wasn't prepared this for level of stupidity. He seemed to have completely forgotten about her. It was even more worrying, she knew that even idiots could hold unpleasant surprises.

She couldn't see Homura's thoughts but she was sure that the girl was annoyed with being ordered around. At least she played being annoyed.

"What are you planning to do? Gauge out my eyes to see if they're evil?"

"Even you can't support these absurd charges, not that there's any court you could charge us at. We have proof of having no part in the loss of your arm. Your country would have good use of your shield as a source of your abilities. It's an unfortunate waste. But you can make amends by co-operating at last."

Every magical girl has her weapon to fight wraiths. So Homura used to have a shield. It must have been useful but it was hard to imagine her beating her foes to pulp with it. That's why she used a bow when she saved her outside. Another magical girl with sketchy equipment, one more blunder from the Incubators' side. The aliens seemed so unprepared, so incompetent that it was nigh impossible. Lara's instincts shrieked like a dog whistle.

"Of course you have nothing to do with it. I'd have probably lost it too if I were just strolling around the city."

"You've probably got rid of it yourself to stop being useful to us. Autotomy isn't unknown in nature. Lizards throw away their tails as a decoy for predators. I should revoke Kaname Madoka's admission to visit you. You should thank Major Croft for these privileges while she's in the facility. She won't be here for too long, I assure you."

Homura gave Lara a startled look over her shoulder. The older magical girl looked herself up and down just as scared. Her bloodstained tank top and pants were simply gone and a clean grey camouflage uniform took their place. The dream world had changed before their eyes and assigned a new role for Lara. Those who meddled in it were apparently done with caring about appearances. They could do anything to learn what they wanted.

"UN/VP... It doesn't make sense...", the Japanese girl muttered then raised her pleading amethyst gaze at Lara. "Go away! Leave me here before they re-shape you! And when you're outside, run and never, ever let the Incubators find you! I have no idea what's going on in the real world but _you must believe me_. This isn't something a mere mortal can handle!"

Lara answered with training her makeshift bow at the door. They locked up this unfortunate girl in her own mind. They turned her own dreams against her. Yet her first thought was to save an uninvited stranger... This was how she imagined a real magical girl who had more reason to fight for others than to repay for some arbitrary wish the aliens had granted. She froze in the middle of the move. Himiko may have been the same. And she might have been dreaming inside her disembodied soul gem for more than a thousand years. Of course she was insane. Lara didn't even hope to have a talk with her like she had with Homura - but she could easily imagine that they'd have to fight in a dream like this. She was on a mysterious, exciting training ground where anything could happen. She would may even learn what was going on. She flashed a grim smile at the master of the dream who had just called a magical girl a mere mortal.

"You don't know me if you you think it scares me away!" Then she produced a pair of color pencils and drew the bow.

For a brief moment the raptor girl seemed to forget herself. She stared at her gratefully for a second - then quickly looked away and answered with downcast eyes.

"All right. If you still want to help then help me look for some weapons and my soul gem. I don't really stand a chance now", she held up her crippled left arm with a sad smile, "but if we can get them I can defend myself. Then I'll just need a hideout where Madoka can't find me. Once there, I can safely kill you. And... thank you. If not for you they'd have already found her in my last dream."

For a little, Lara rested her hand on the girl's shoulder. They shared a look then she drew her bow. Her magical bolts proved even more effective than they had outside, tearing through the stainless steel slabs like paper sheets.

They waded through the remains of the double gate in a hurry. A much simpler door opened in the left wall right behind the airlock. Lara kicked it open and dragged Homura through it to the next room. Displays covered one of the walls, most of them showing deserted halls and corridors. Another door slammed shut on the other side, then a series of electronic locks clicked.

Lara just waved. She hadn't come to kill. Instead she wanted to learn as much as possible as quickly as she could, then disappear before someone would summon the mysterious Madoka upon them.

She ran her gaze along the monitors. One showed an approaching squad, armed to the teeth, but none of them looked like someone she would have called "Madoka". Even Homura didn't seem to recognize the cryptic person so Lara hurriedly started to type on a terminal at hand. The computer had been left there in panic. The person working on it must have been unprepared for her being interested in research material or feared for his life enough to leave easy access to everything. She found long records on various experiments they had carried out on Homura. They carefully documented the tests and set up theories about her abilities. One of the recurring topics was the small round shield attached to her left forearm. Lara had to revise her impression about Homura's poor equipment because it was much more than a mere shield: it seemed to affect the very curvature of space-time. A series of slow motion records about her transformation followed, then came countless pages discussing blood samples and DNA sequences.

"Come on, where did you bastards hide that gem?", she grunted but kept on reading.

She found a report about capturing and controlling Homura. She read through this new part very carefully. As a magical girl trainee she tried to judge her own strength too. According to the records they needed a whole military squad armed with tasers to capture the skinny little lich next to her. Sleeping gas and drugs proved effective too in a controlled environment. Lara gave a stern nod. She would be careful about such attacks but Mathias' demented followers could hardly pose a real threat now that she was aware of her magic.

Then followed the notes of a certain psychologist called Dr Sakura Kei, profusely interrupted with the critical comments of the report's author. The next section contained a detailed analysis of a series of drug tests, revolving around a substance called _Glazadrine_ which they wanted to use to tame Homura. Lara kept reading, brows knit, completely forgetting about the prisoner who followed the same article peeking over her shoulder. When she reached the escape attempt and the lost arm she jerked up her head to see that the terribly indifferent reports mesmerized the Japanese girl too. Her single hand whitened as she clutched the backrest of the chair and gritted her teeth, lost in the report. The text was soon interrupted with pictures about the operation to remove a metal shard that threatened with damaging her lung, that led to the discovery of her soul gem that she had been hiding within her rib cage. Then it continued with samples of the gem, analysis of its crystalline structure and comparisons with nervous tissue. Then came the most horrifying part: the effects of the examinations on (the other?) Homura.

"Poor devil...", the thin girl murmured with her eyes fixed on the screen. "How could she survive it with sane mind?"

Lara gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"So this is why our magic must be kept in secret. I'm not really surprised. Of course I won't leave you here. But where did they get these memories? Aren't these yours? I don't think they could come up with something like this and I'm afraid they have a few surprises for us. I'd like to know what else to prepare to."

Homura thought it over then shrugged.

"I have no idea. I have already been a guinea pig, in another world. It was very much like a nightmare but that time it was over much sooner. They must have built this dream out of those memories. Or they have really put me in another Akemi Homura's place. There's many of me. I'm glad that dream soul gems don't work the same way as real ones. They may have mine but they can't use it to force me to do whatever they want. And I can just walk out of here because its range doesn't mean a thing. But I still need it to use magic. This habit dies hard.

They left the room rather violently through the second door but they had no chance to catch up to the researcher with the monotone whom Lara identified as Dr Endou via his writing style. They skittered along the long empty corridor with hunched backs, ready for an ambush in any second. They had spent minutes in the monitor room but the squad they saw coming was still nowhere - either they had disappeared off-screen or the building was so huge that they hadn't even arrived. But the girl's soul gem couldn't be too far from her room. Lara tried to keep track of their distance and direction from there while she followed Homura and kept an eye on the door signs.

Since Dr Endou's escape the speakers didn't comment on the girl's behavior nor her unauthorized visitor who followed in her tracks evaluating her movements. Lara found the situation elusively strange, it felt like watching the heroine of a video game. The developers had done a good job, the environment and the Japanese girl's model and animation was perfectly realistic. Lara wasn't sure that Homura would be her choice as the protagonist of this depressing and probably dangerous game but apart from her missing forearm she looked healthy and much more like an experienced fighter than a weary guinea pig. It was high time to get some weapon for her or at least reclaim her magical powers. If they could find the squad that was supposed to find them she would also acquire something more suitable than her bow of cut flowers that was already short on ammo.

But she had to wait in vain, the underground facility was deserted. Soot stains and bullet holes in the bare concrete walls marked an earlier battle but the security guards were nowhere, not even their dead bodies. As they progressed the building looked more and more like an ancient structure carved in rock. A familiar timber gate stopped them in their way. Lara shot another arrow into the huge bar that held it closed and yanked it via the attached magical string. The big panels came down cracking. Lara leapt into the next room and hissed loudly as something left a bleeding cut along her arm. She turned on her heel but couldn't see anything. Homura gave a worried look but she kept silent.

Then, right behind a turn, they found a battered map with Japanese legend. The rock around the board was overrun by lush green vines. Lara swept aside a stalk and read.

"KAZAMINO UNDERGROUND RESEARCH LABORATORY.", the katakana informed her. "YOU ARE HERE.", said the caption next to a point far below the surface. The author seemed quite generous with emphasis.

"They just don't stop poking...", Homura murmured.

Lara raised her brows.

"I've already been here.", the girl explained. "It was just like this: a deserted bunker after battle. There will be a burnt tank up in the entrance hall. It still doesn't make sense but at least they found a memory that's mine."

She was right. Lara shook her head and blinked. The sight of the underground tunnel reverted to its earlier state, the overgrown rock walls gave way to the concrete of the Japanese bunker from World War Two. Piles of debris, trash and bones lay by the walls but there was no living person and no usable weapon in sight. They paced faster and faster, darted from pile to pile, Homura nimbly and with empty hand, Lara keeping her last pencil arrow ready and fizzing with magic.

After a few turns they finally found the missing security squad. They littered the trash covered ground, rag dolls with glazed empty eyes, dressed in uniforms like Lara's, their weapons scattered around their bodies. She knelt down and examined a corpse. Someone had apparently slit the soldier's throat with a razor wire. Someone took them off by surprise, just as easily as Lara would have done. There was a much more dangerous enemy hiding in the facility.

Her decision was ready. She grabbed Homura's wrist and dragged her down.

"Can we heal others or just ourselves?", she asked. The Japanese girl stared at her with wide eyes.

"How long have you been a magical girl? We don't make contracts in your age."

"I have no idea. All that I know is what Yonbey told me today. And I'm not even sure about those things."

Homura nodded.

"I see. Something's happened to your memories. It may have even been my doing. If so - I'm sorry. But the answer is yes. We can heal in many ways, our magic automatically repairs our bodies so we can survive grave injuries. But we also can deliberately repair or even improve our bodies. I, for example, have learned to perform heart surgery on myself."

It was Lara's turn to drop her jaw.

"Can a magical girl have heart condition?"

"Of course. If you didn't wish to heal it won't change just because you turn into a magical girl. You have to take care of everything yourself. I used to be short sighted too but it hindered me in battle so I repaired my eyes. But such changes need a lot of magic and even more if you try to heal someone else. Even ordinary people have some resistance against foreign magic and we have much stronger. I'd need a lot of cubes for this, I mean if I could use my magic, but you'd need much more."

Lara grabbed the girl's defective left arm. Homura tried to pull it back but Lara didn't let go. Finally, Homura gave in and let her examine it. The stump looked long healed.

"Shouldn't your magic automatically repair it? Yonbey said that we got it to keep us fit to fight. Or it's just too much?"

"We aren't the same. Our abilities are usually somewhat related to our wish. I knew someone who could recover even if you cut her clean in half, should her soul gem stay intact. She had used her wish to heal someone. I'm not like her. I stand and fight as long as there's enough left of me to move. You don't want to see me like that. But my magic can only stop me from bleeding to death."

Lara watched her thoughtfully.

"We need every hand. I'll try to fix you. I have no idea what I wished for and what it's good for but I'll do my best."

"I'll try to help you control your magic but you better know the bones and everything else you want to re-grow."

Lara looked right in her eyes and flashed that grim little half smile.

"I'm good at bones."

"Are you a doctor?", Homura returned the look.

"An archaeologist."

The thin girl burst into laughter.

"What can I lose? This is all a dream, isn't it?"

She had enough time to think about it while she eyed the blood that slowly oozed through her fresh bandage. Lara sat there, leaning against the wall, face buried in her hands, with her murky green soul gem in her lap. She proved to be a lousy healer but she refused to give up until her vision blurred and a wave a dizziness knocked her down to the floor, dragging Homura along.

"Let it slide...", the little Japanese girl whispered with her hand on Lara's shoulder. It was everything she could do. Though the world wasn't real the pain was. "I don't know..." , she gulped for air, "if you're depleting your real magic... but if you pass out... I don't know where you end up."

The re-opened wound throbbed quietly, the fresh, naked bone modestly hid under the makeshift bandage Lara had torn off her disturbing new uniform.

"I don't understand how I could even try it. I've never done it, not even to myself! Homura, I've been so stupid! I'm so sorry..."

She received a sympathetic, lopsided smile from the girl on the ground. After a minute of silence she added, "Back in the outside world a good friend of mine was gravely injured. If I had learned about my magic just a bit earlier I would have tried to use it on him. It scares me to imagine fucking it up the same way, with a normal person, in the real world. You could at least understand what happened to you."

"What did you do then?", the Japanese girl asked.

"I gave him normal first aid."

"Is he... all right?"

"He's dead. Killed by Mathias."

Homura was too tired to answer. It would have been pointless anyway. She closed her eyes in pain. Lara felt like doing the same but then she realized where she was. She couldn't risk falling out of this dream, not now. She jerked up her head and looked at the girl. The sudden move, or something else, made her sway again.

When she saw Homura her blood ran cold. The girl's stump was covered in a stained, formerly gray camouflage patterned piece of cloth.

"Good God, who did this to you?"

"It doesn't matter, Miss Croft. I just need a little time. We can be on our way soon."

For a moment Lara didn't understand why Homura was so pleased. Then she realized that not only she didn't know what had happened to her arm but didn't remember why they were down on the floor to begin with. The hole in her last few minutes worth of memory was just as conspicuous as Homura's smile. It was so conspicuous that it looked like a deliberate message without words or messages to intercept. But what could the raptor girl try to message her with punching a hole in her memory? Perhaps the very fact that they may have disarmed her and taken away the control over her own dream she still wasn't helpless and she was planning something with her power.

"Clever girl!"

What else could she say to such an intelligent reptile? She exchanged a smile with Homura.

"When you can get up let's go get your gem! It can't be too far. But until we get it... Can you handle it?"

She held out a dead guard's assault Rifle for Homura.

"Of course, single-handedly! Don't you need one too?"

But Lara had already grasped the grip of an ice axe she found in the debris. The tool was the spitting image of the one she used outside to pulverize the giant wraith's head. It was apparently waiting right for her. It was the second time she felt in a video game. And, if it was a game, she would need this very weapon soon.

They didn't have to follow the corridor for long. It ended in another heavy steel door marked with the number they were looking for. According to the documents Homura's soul gem must have been locked up in there. So Lara tried to pry the door open with the head of the axe but it resisted.

She exhaled and held out her hand above the tip of the tool. St Elmo's fire slowly enveloped the edge in green glow. Then she started to work on the door again. The tip of the axe punctured it with ease and Lara cut through the steel plate like the lid of a tin can.

When she tried to get through the opening Homura held her back.

"I hope this time you don't want to cut yourself with the rim.", she said, tracing the ragged edge with her fingertips.

The older magical girl shook her head. This time their imagined realities were in line and Homura's fingers accurately followed the outlines of the opening. Lara saw the airlock's reinforced steel door, the sterile white walls and the room with stainless counters and cabinets she was supposed to see. The counters and trolleys were packed with medical tools and instruments, closed bottles and Petri dishes. But the middle of the room was suspiciously empty, apart from one single operating table.

She switched visions before Homura's worried eyes. She hoped to see more through her eyelids and she was right. Thin strands of light crisscrossed the murky dusk of the room in every imaginable angle. Of course they had a security system. It could probably even fill the halls and corridors with gas. So she began to cross the empty space with closed eyes. She lifted her feet above a thread of light, crawled under another then slid sideways through a glowing fence.

Homura couldn't see the light beams but she was sure that what her self-appointed guardian angel was dodging wasn't the security system of the research facility. No security system radiated magic like this one. And she couldn't feel any wraiths nearby, it had to be something else. She didn't want to disturb Lara in her worming through the magical defense of the room but kept scanning the area for the hiding stranger who had murdered the guards and whose magical imprint she sensed everywhere ahead.

Lara stopped for a moment. She turned her head around as if she was looking for something but she still kept her eyes closed. Then she seemed to find something. She froze, facing a big, locked cabinet. She vaulted over the operating table and sneaked to the sturdy piece of furniture with her back hunched. She unhooked the ice axe from her belt and began to pry this new door open, successfully this time.

She leaned into the brightly lit cabinet to examine her quarry. A nugget of moving, living light was sitting on the massive metal shelf. She placed it on her palm and opened her eyes to experience the feeling of holding someone else's soul with her normal senses. She expected a familiar ornate gem but she could only see a crumpled ball of hair-thin gray thread, still glowing faintly with magic.

"Get down!", she heard Homura's frightened shout. She bellied down without hesitation and used her momentum to kick back. The dropped ball unraveled into an eerily hissing wire that missed her head by a mere few inches.

As she followed her own move a second Japanese girl's disturbingly uncertain image flashed before her eyes. White skin, white teeth, white hair, white coat, white skirt. Her ice cold almond shaped eyes, frozen blue grin and the golden hem of her clothes could only emphasize her perfect camouflage in this sterile place.

"Goddamn chameleon!", she thought, returning to her survivor vision. She could finally see the slim figure glowing in the color of magic. She wasn't at all taller than Homura and held the end of every luminous thread in one hand. They glowed in the same hue as her body, totally unlike the wraiths' corpse-colored light. But where could she have been hiding if she was so radiant?

Her assailant quickly regained her balance. With a tug she joined the threads in a bundle and struck at Lara with this whip. The overage magical girl threw herself aside, kicking over a trolley of medical instruments. She grabbed one of the scattering objects, something heavy and expensive, and hurled it at the casually approaching stranger.

"Come on now, Akemi-san... What an unruly visitor you brought into the facility! You cause terrible headaches to daddy, when he was civil with you, even though he could have just dissected you!", the patch of light remarked. Lara heard the sadistic tone but couldn't see how she dodged the contraption adorned with a pair of LCDs. Apparently it had just flown through her. She opened her eyes again hoping to observe the monstrosity Homura's imagination unleashed on them. She resented her a little for hindering her own rescue but she was quite sure that conjuring this white chameleon out of her non-existent top hat was hardly intentional.

"Lizard is a wolf to her fellow lizard...", she growled as she grabbed the next random object. She tossed a rack of test tubes at the unknown girl and her aim was surely true this time. But the result was disappointing, she couldn't see the trick. Her opponent just pushed the flying rack aside, scattering and smashing the glass tubes on the white stone floor. But where Lara's bullet couldn't hit she herself ruthlessly did. She didn't even try to be gentle. She was fighting a mere vision, a phantom from the dark depths of Homura's mind. Her fist landed first, right in the pit of her enemy's stomach. Then she slammed her ice axe into her skull - or at least into the thin air where her skull had just been. What she thought to be a chameleon proved to be a ghost instead. She just disappeared from the weapon's way and Lara stumbled through the air. Hitting the ground she whirled around and faced the albino phantom who was still standing there and slowly turned toward Lara with a scowl. Then she took her hand off her stomach and ran her fingers through the air around her.

Lara suspected that she was playing with her wires. Every magical girl has a tool for combat, she murmured the mantra closing her eyes again. She had the choice to see these weapons or the moments when her enemy was exposed in the physical world. And she was in dire need of the former now. The sharp strands kept insanely lashing at her and she dodged them with moves she couldn't have imagined she was capable of. Part of her brain registered the trajectories and searched for the white magical girl's weaknesses. This fighting style seemed useless in close combat so she had to get closer to her. She grabbed an IV stand and used it to block the next attack. She gained two half stands and a fraction of a second to dart through the created opening. But she made a mistake too: she didn't count on the quick reactions of her opponent. One of the airborne wires took a sharp turn and coiled itself around her wrist. The phantom flashed a wicked grin at her and pulled the end of the wire. But in the middle of the move her face twisted and her body arched as a burst of bullets slammed into her back.

Homura had been standing aside and cold-bloodedly waited for the exact hundredth of a second when the ghost had to materialize for the attack. She surprised them both and the phantom left the world together with her wires just a moment too late. Lara could see the deflected bullets in her body, the entry holes, the broken rib and the damaged lung. She felt that one of the shots landed in her thigh but she closed off the pain and didn't even resent Homura for the stray bullet. The attack had freed her from the razor-sharp noose after all, and even she herself couldn't have been more careful in this situation. What's more, the thin girl's aim was excellent for someone who used the assault rifle with just one hand.

The phantom turned on her heel like the wounds had just angered her. Now she aimed her threads at Homura, slicing up her weapon. Small metal pieces clattered on the floor, then something thudded: a delicate hand.

"I thought we agreed! No more resistance, no more escape! But I don't care, you'll be much easier to handle when you're incapacitated. Do you really think they won't find use for you then?"

The sugar coated sadism in her voice was gone, the remaining whistling gurgle was hardly fit to display fine tinges. She snatched at the other girl's feet with her wires while Homura backed without a word, face livid. The ghost casually followed savoring every step and took good care to stomp on her dropped hand.

Lara's eyes blazed up. Her fury and some primal protective instinct crystallized into cold blooded brutality. Homura had become her friend, a member of her crew, and she had enough of this cursed island - Himiko - hunting them down one by one.

"I won't give you more sacrifices, you goddamn bitch!", she snarled under her breath, clutching the handle of the ice axe.

Limping in deadly silence she caught up to her enemy. Could the phantom really be careless enough to ignore a combat-capable opponent? Lara prepared for a failure, she flexed her unhurt leg to jump but she didn't need to. The attack took the pale ghost by surprise. The head of the axe rammed into her body above the collar bone and sunk deep into her chest. Such a horrible wound could have killed any of Mathias' zealots but this time her opponent was another magical girl. On the top of that it was a dream world with arbitrary distortions so she had no idea what she could have achieved. In the real world she would have taken her opponent out of action and Homura would have a mere few minutes left before she'd bleed to death. She had no time to waste.

She took hold of the phantom and twisted her arms back with quick, efficient moves. The magical girl's body was dead cold and completely solid but Lara had already seen her dematerialize in a blink of an eye. Yet she didn't phase out of her grip but slammed her head into Lara's face, filling her mouth with the taste of blood. The flavor called back some faint memory. A small furry body squirmed in her hands and she stabbed it with her hunting knife.

She would have liked to see the rest of the story but she couldn't afford daydreaming. She was tussling with a rabid phantom who seemed to be unable to dematerialize while in physical contact with someone else. Every magic seemed to have its limits and Lara was in dire need of this limit. It could finally turn the tides. She twisted the handle of the axe. Cool blood streamed down her hands just to drip further down and evaporate from the floor. She felt the undead body twitch in her grip.

"It was a well laid trap. And now you better hand me her soul gem... Lest something happen to yours!"

She squeezed the apparition's hand where she felt a hard, cold object. Her gem.

"Would you like to see where they keep it?", the pale ghost mockingly gurgled. "I show you!"

So she dropped sideways, together with Lara. The axe, losing its support, plopped down with a quiet clank. Then they fell through the closest wall. It felt like breaking a river's surface from below - but this surface had _thickness_ and there was another room on the other side. Lara did the only thing she could, held on to the ghost who dragged her into another world. She suspected that she'd gladly leave her stuck in the wall but as long as she kept her hold they changed phase together.

They hit the shiny white stone floor hard but Lara didn't slacken her hold on her foe. She raised to one knee then stood up dragging the re-materialized, constantly struggling phantom up with her. She pushed her forward by her twisted arm, to the translucent glass and steel mesh container. This was the source of the familiar purple glow she sensed, first via her survivor vision, then her naked eyes too. She had finally found what she was looking for: a small gemstone, similar to her own, in a worn golden casing, with clouds of darkness floating around the numerous scratches and drilled holes in the crystal.

The next step would be opening the container but keeping hold of her enemy occupied both her hands. Then the ghost, like out of consideration, stopped struggling.

"How long have you known Akemi? I began to watch her well before she got here yet I've never seen you. You aren't among her friends from Mitakihara. You're a gaijin, anything happening to her is none of your concern. How would you benefit from taking her out of here?"

Lara didn't even flinch at the questions. She could easily imagine an Incubator in distress talking this way. The ghost's sentences could have had some meaning in the real world but they were pointless here. She scanned the equipment on the desk and the stands like expecting inspiration to get out of this nasty interlock. How could she stop a magical girl who could get away from any rope in an instant?

"Of course, you have it easy. You have your good old body. But haven't your grief seed addiction ever bothered you? Dad's team is looking for a way to cancel our contracts!"

"Do they? Doesn't seem so to me.", Lara grunted browsing through the labels of a row of ampules. Grief seed. It was something to ask Homura about. And definitely keep from the Incubator. Then her eyes zeroed on something.

"Glazadrine... If the journal's right it's good for many things. It may help you stay put if I say so. You may even help us out of here. Or tell us a few things."

Her captive winced in her grip.

"I see that you're just as curious as my father! You can find the real way out, not just the one out of the facility. I can help you enroll the research team. Who else could give better hints to the secrets of magic than a real magical girl? Dad's a real genius but you could greatly speed up his research! You're much more convincing than that lousy fraud Dr Sakura that Akemi called here!"

Lara didn't stop pinning her down, held her arms behind her back with one hand and one knee while she opened the package of a sterile needle that she then fitted on a syringe.

"I've already seen what this 'research team' has done to this unfortunate girl and it makes me sick. Do you really think I'd continue for your sake?"

The phantom didn't give up.

"Come on, think of the fame! And you could really enjoy it because you wouldn't have to chase witches anymore! You could just step into the light in the end so they could undo your contract too!"

Lara froze in the middle of the move. Witches. Another foreign phrase. The ghost began to feel that she had the upper hand. Lara couldn't see the satisfied grin on her face but heard her triumphant tone.

"With your help it can't take much longer. I could finally get them find Akemi's soul gem. They should just ask the right questions. You know these questions. And she trusts you. She just have to let out a little bit and you'll find a way to complete it. It'll go smoothly."

"Great. Then tell me why you didn't enroll yourself as a test subject! Especially when your father is among the team."

And she stabbed the needle into the ghost's neck. But the whole syringe slipped through the formerly solid skin. A few drops splashed on the counter and the syringe rattled along the smooth metal plate. Lara completely lost the grip on her foe and fell against the container. She instinctively covered her eyes but the reinforced glass withstood the impact with a quiet crack. She grabbed the dangerous syringe again and threw herself back, away from her loose prisoner. And she tried to come up with anything to survive against an opponent like her. She could only reach for one last straw: the moment when the phantom attacks. Even she had to materialize to make physical damage. In that moment she would be vulnerable.

Lara pulled herself up gripping a chair then picked it up by the backrest and waited for the right moment, muscles flexed. She kept her survivor vision on the ghost but then a familiar mesh of forking and joining threads flashed before her eyes. A wave swept through the air and rolled past the attacking phantom. It reconstructed the frenzied magical girl into a real ghost of gray rags and red glow. Someone interfered with the dream again, right in the worst moment. It couldn't be a coincidence. The world that wasn't Homura's memory instantly turned into something that wasn't Lara's. She couldn't be sure of anything anymore.

She was standing next to a stone sarcophagus that rested upon the shoulders of a group of hooded stone statues. There were no stainless tables and no glass containers along the walls anymore. Carved stone pillars supported the fluttering torches that replaced the room's fluorescent lighting. Now the purple speck of light lay in the hands of another, toga-clad statue, slowly fading away. It seemed that Homura didn't have much time left. Lara dropped the chair then leapt and rolled through under the legless gliding ghost.

She grasped the statue, dragged herself up and reached for the gem. But her hand bounced off something just as smooth and hard as bulletproof glass. She needed something to replace her lost ice axe. She ran her gaze along the crypt's floor. She saw dusty stone carver tools meticulously arranged along the sarcophagus like it had been the last great work the long dead craftsman used them for. Lara hoped that she could use them to break the invisible yet very real glass. But the ghost was much closer than the tools. She had only one last weapon: as the dead cold hands grabbed her shoulders to force her down she rammed the magically sharpened needle deep into the phantom's sternum then grabbed her waist to drag her down from the air.

The attack was a partial success. The apparition evaporated from her grasp but left behind an empty syringe. She landed a few steps back and just stood there, in corporeal form, panting like she had just finished a difficult job. The wounds on her chest and shoulder closed up rapidly. It took this long for Lara to realize that the pain radiating from her thigh wasn't the only one she felt. Her feet began to signal a new injury, first gently, then more and more intensely. It grew into a white hot glare that blindingly eclipsed the gunshot wound. She looked down and saw with terror that her feet had disappeared in the floor. She instantly knew that she wasn't just stuck. The white cast stone had fused with her body and she couldn't even imagine a magic that would be able to separate them. She thought that the easiest way would be discarding these feet and grow new ones. At least the easiest for a magical girl like herself. The pain blurred her mind. Perhaps she should have listened Yonbey when he tried to explain how to limit the connection with her body.

She heard banging from the door, maybe her imagination played tricks on her. That door opened to the previous room. Homura may have been able to follow her, despite her condition. Lara tried to warn her but her self-control wasn't enough for more than a guttural scream. The ghost jerked up her head. Grinning widely she stretched a razor wire between her hands then just canceled it with a theatrical wave. She stared at Lara for an unnerving moment then she quickly seized her bow, tore off her pendant and hung it on the statue's fingers, next to Homura's gem.

"It'll be better this way. The docs need some fun too. Now I go and pack up your noisy little friend for them. Then I'll turn these back on so they can enjoy the show.", she giggled, pointing at a camera and gave a shaky bow. Lara saw her lids twitch as she squinted more by the minute in the lab's cold white lights. The room was gradually getting back its modern equipment, the statue with the soul gems remained the last medieval prop. Lara felt like she got a dose of the drug too.

"And you'll keep your mouth shut about Endou Tsarina, Test Subject Two!", the apparition grinned.

She couldn't see or didn't care that the piled up darkness dripped down from the purple gem and streamed toward the door. She turned around and walked off to welcome the visitor with swaying steps, sometimes an inch or two above or below the floor. Apparently the drug's effects grew worse. It was just impossible that she could be stupid enough to introduce herself to Lara...

There was no more knocking. The door began to crackle and slowly split off its frame, then tumbled down.

"You're right. I do want to see her. So you are Kouki... It feels right. You really look like 'Curiosity' to me!", chirped a voice from the other side. Lara had already heard this voice and it made her skin crawl. "I don't even know how you came to be. Kyouko said that there are seven deadly sins. I didn't think that I could have more than fourteen."

Though the voice was Homura's a tall platinum blonde woman entered the room in tight white costume, with huge black webbed wings on her back. A doll trailed her in fingerless gloves and buckle boots. Her hips flashed between her black leather vest and tight leather pants. Her skin was white porcelain with splashes and tendrils of gray, her maroon hair fluttered in one long braid behind her back as she escorted her mistress like a bodyguard. She brandished a pair of oversized needles or metal stakes, her heavily painted eyes glowed in blue-orange circles and she grinned constantly, showing off her too many pointy teeth.

"Darf ich diese magischen Mädchen sezieren?", she asked as she turned towards Lara, mimicking her posture. She was just short enough for her eyes to fall in the level with those of the girl's who stood with her feet in the floor. In her face and shape Lara recognized her own distorted visage. She recoiled with a start - and so did the doll, in perfect unison.

"Nur den Geist.", the blonde woman pointed her raw bleeding stump at the ghost with while she flipped back her hair with the other, bandaged one. Tsarina staggered furiously towards the duo, knowing that this time there was no one to backstab her. She absently played with her fingers on the way, shaping a cat's cradle of her deadly wires.

"Aber Meisterin, ich möchte sehen was sie gemacht sind!", the doll protested.

"Ich möchte nicht.", the woman closed the argument in Homura's voice. Her servant shifted her grip on the needles and turned to the approaching figure.

Lara desperately alternated her visions to repel the hallucination. The blinking gave her a headache but at least she got back the picture of the familiarly short Japanese girl. But the doll refused to disappear or even change.

The ghost let out her wires and aimed from two sides at once at the only creature she regarded as a threat. Lara saw this attack horribly inaccurate but she had to admit that it made it even harder to avoid. But her curious double had no trouble dodging them. She sidestepped the whizzing threads with Lara's moves just much faster than she felt capable of, then stabbed the needles into the phantom's chest with deadly accuracy.

It happened exactly as Lara anticipated. The doll's momentum almost crashed her into Homura but she didn't fail to avoid the next slash. She climbed up the wall like a gecko and leapt on the ghost from the ceiling. Blocked another attack mid-air with her needles then fell through her immaterializing opponent and rolled on in a completely unpredictable angle. She kicked herself off the wall and instantly charged again.

Tsarina drew wires out of thin air with each of her fingers. She must have been very experienced in it but now she almost sliced herself up as they swished through the air on her disordered commands. The doll dodged them all in a magnificent dance, zigzagging closer in an erratic pattern, speeding up and slowing down to a still dazzling speed. It didn't take a single second for her to reach her foe and stab her again.

This time the phantom was too slow. She phased free from the thin black skewers but Lara's survivor senses still followed her as she hunched over with her hands on her stomach. Tsarina looked up in surprise then jerked her eyes away from the fluorescent lights that painfully pierced her hugely dilated pupils. She flitted up and began to yank out the light tubes, one by one. She was rewarded by a shower of glass shards and sparkles and a pair of needles into the hollows of her knees.

The hits seemed to sober her up. She shot up through the ceiling, just to descend above Homura's head. She thought over her situation with the remains of her reason. Her first guinea pig had proven to be too much to handle so she gave up on her.

"Homura, get down!"

This time it was Lara who shouted as the ghost slipped an immaterial noose around the girl's neck. Homura instantly bellied down but Tsarina followed and tried to re-position the string under her chin. Then it was her turn to scream. She had enough time to leave a thin bloody line on Homura's neck but all her determination fell short of completing the cut. The doll who had seemed to look for her blindly sprang behind her back to ready a needle spear into her skull from nape to forehead in the last moment before she phased in again. Tsarina's convulsing fingers dropped her weapon as she lost control over her body so completely that it took a second before she could disappear again. The doll made good use of the extra time. She broke the ghost's neck with a quick yank on the needle and knelt in her spine with a second loud crack.

They all kept their eyes on Tsarina. Homura stared at the point where she disappeared. Lara would have liked to know what she thought and felt but watching the phantom took too much of her attention. It was sickening to see how she landed with half of her body in the floor and tried to gather herself shaking all over. She hoped that their enemy would have the brains not to try to attack again. It was one thing to fight as a magical girl but this slaughter was something horribly different. And she saw that it was even harder on the master of the dream.

But Homura's Curiosity kept her watch above ghost and followed her every move with a perpetual grin, constantly relocating her needles to prevent Tsarina from re-materializing without impaling herself.

Lara and Homura exchanged a painful look. The little Japanese girl raised her eyes at the doll and stopped her with a headshake. Kouki's grin drooped as she stepped back, positioning herself between her mistress and the ghost, keeping the needles ready.

"I can't do this to a magical girl...", the raptor girl whispered.

Lara knit her brows. She suspected that the sentence had another, hidden meaning. But despite all the secret and her bad feelings she couldn't agree. The researcher's daughter was highly dangerous, lacking any common sense or morality.

"Homura! I understand that you wouldn't like to brutally torture another magical girl but this one is really no more than a ghost, a figment of your mind! If you had a brain I'd say that one part of it is trying to free the others from this world. But this dream is too nasty. I have no idea what you're doing to yourself and the reality and I don't think you'd like to explain but if you have any control over this world, I beg you to tell my double to kill her very quickly!"

'Quick' wasn't the word she was looking for. The doll's speed left nothing to be desired. The injured and drugged magical girl was simply no match for her.

Kouki waited eagerly for her mistress to come to a decision. Homura's brows wrinkled with pain as she ran her gaze along the lab's equipment, her own stumped arms, then her unbidden helper, her only link with the outside world. Her voice was still full of doubt as she gave the order.

"Töte sie und bring mir ihren Seelenstein!"

Only Lara could see Tsarina as she bared her teeth at Homura then jumped up to the air to glide through the ceiling. So she had some common sense after all, she just used it a bit too late. Kouki's grin widened. She carved a sphere in the air around herself with her needles and disappeared in a flash. All she left behind was a little glowing ball in the color of a completely new magic. Then this tiny ball of lightning shot out to hunt down the phantom, caught up to her in a second and devoured her in a bright flash of magic.

* * *

 _A/N: Another long, long wait before an update. Unfortunately I can't promise I speed up my writing..._

 _Alternative title: A farewell to Arms_

 _This chapter is another "mature worthy" chapter but for a different reason. I pay an old debt with this one. It is a homage to P.K. Atomyst's "Test Subject One", one running fictional work (at ) now on hiatus, and also some stress relief. TS1 just grew huge tension in me and it called for a violent resolution. But I guess I'm growing more like Urobuchi-sensei with solving problems..._

 _The chapter's title is the name of a small round object in Doctor Who. It's time lord tech and looks remarkably similar to Homura's shield. It's use in a very sinister way which I found very fitting at this point._

 _Music I listened and felt fitting while writing it all:_

 _Sucker Punch OST: Sweet Dreams [Are Made Of This]_  
 _Matrix Reloaded OST: Chateau (Atomyst - I said that this Tsarina character made me think of certain someones!)_  
 _Passarella Death Squad: Just Like Sleep_

 _Tags: Angel of Darkness || Underworld || Lara's Shadow || Test Subject One || Glazadrine || Demolition Derby || Mad Drug Party || Cat's Cradle || Everything's funny in this world || The deepest shade of mushroom funny_

 _I have good news for the fans of Tomb Raider games. I've moved my spotlight to older titles though I know that Angel Of Darkness is another controversial piece of the series. I didn't find its plot solid and profound enough either but I use what I feel right to use and will continue on this path. See you in Prague!_

 _Message for BHS: Here's my version of growing new familiars. Situations with great emotional impact can implant new elements into one's mental landscape. And I guess Kouki | Curiosity has one more similarity to your Sayaka's nutcracker. Also she's the very embodiment of a really bad pun._


End file.
